Worthy
by Pengping
Summary: This starts where the 7th book epilogue ends. In the wake of the Wizarding War, the Malfoys are outcast because of their alliance with Voldemort AND then from betraying him, and Draco's son must bear it all. Not only does Scorpius now have to overcome the chaos of Hogwarts, he must also overcome the taint of his family name and prove he and his kin are worthy of being wizards.
1. The Train

The train's horn gave warning blow, alerting the witches and wizards on platform 9¾ that they needed to board. It was nearly 11 o'clock. Scorpius Malfoy waved goodbye to his parents one more time before he got aboard the train to Hogwarts. Things were hectic on the train as his fellow first-years and other students started taking seats.

Someone bumped into Scorpius from behind and he stumbled forward, almost falling. He turned around to see a black-haired wizard his age was the one who had nearly knocked him down.

"Hey!" Scorpius complained. "Watch it!"

"Sorry," the boy said, "I was just looking for my brother James. Have you seen him? He looks like me only taller."

Scorpius looked at the boy who had bumped into him. His hair was untidy, framing a face with bright green almond-shaped eyes. He was wearing a Hogwarts cloak but it didn't have a house patch on it yet, so that meant this was going to be his first year. If he had a scar on his face and glasses then he'd look identical to Harry Potter.

The similarity made Scorpius step back and ask in the same sharp tone. "Are you a Potter?"

The boy blinked, surprised that he had been recognized. "Um, yes. I'm Albus Potter, and it looks like we're both first years."

Since Scorpius didn't have a house badge on his robe, it was easy to see that he had yet to be sorted into a house yet either. "Your right, but I don't know where your brother is half-blood so make yourself scarce."

Albus hesitated, surprised by Scorpiu's callous slur, and then said somewhat offended. "You don't need to be so mean."

He stepped back away from Scorpius and went into another car as he continued to search for his older brother. Scorpius shook his head and then continued walking down the car's hallway, looking for his friends. Just as he'd been told, there really was going to be a Potter enrolled in the same year as him.

"Scorpius!" Someone shouted from a compartment he had just walked past.

Oh, what now? Scorpius muttered and glanced over his shoulder.

He thought that it might be the Potter boy or some other mixed-blood come to bother him, and was pleasantly surprised that it was not. Two almost identical boys were standing inside the compartment looking out at him.

Scorpius smiled as he recognized the friends he had been looking for, twin brothers Luke and Jacob Flint. Jacob waved at Scorpius energetically, almost hitting his brother in the face, and Luke slapped his hand away with a noise of surprise. Luke glared at his twin and Jacob narrowed his eyes back.

It appeared to Scorpius that his presence was required to keep the two from causing mayhem, so he quickly walked to the compartment they had secured. The train jolted sharply as it started moving before Scorpius could reach a seat, and he had to grab the frame of the compartment door to keep from falling. He hurried inside the compartment and closed the door behind him, taking a grateful seat.

There was another small jolt, but Scorpius was ready for it this time and managed not to fall out of his seat. Jacob snickered at his clumsiness, covering his mouth with a hand as the twins sat on the seat across from him. Luke saved Scorpius the trouble of lightly slugging Jacob on his arm.

The train began to pick up speed as the jolts leveled out, and the three boys crowded near the window. Scorpius couldn't find his parents, but the twins waved at their mother. Soon they were away from the platform and the three watched until the station vanished from sight.

Once the station vanished, the three settled back down in their seats and began chatting to pass the time. Jacob started by complaining about their nine-year old sister Coraline's whining that she wanted to go to Hogwarts with her brothers. Scorpius was an only child, and he enjoyed listening to his friends go on about their youngest sibling and what their house was like. It was almost always quiet at Malfoy manor unless the twins came visiting Scorpius. Then it was anything but quiet.

Time passed as the three continued chatting, and after a brief update from both on what things were like at their houses they moved onto Hogwarts's houses. Since all three of them were pure-bloods and members of the Sacred Twenty-Eight, it was expected that they would mind themselves while away from home. They knew the importance of blood-purity, and not to become friends with muggle-borns and wizards of the like because they didn't want to be named blood traitors like the Weasley family had been.

Their families were also of Slytherin descent, and all three wanted to be in Slytherin to make their families proud. They were placed in their houses though by the Sorting Hat, and it might not take their wishes into consideration. It could put them in a different House, and that was a chance the three dreaded.

After the four Houses and the Sorting Hat were discussed they went on to other topics that ranged from which Professor would be the best to which class they thought was going to be hardest. It went all the way from Quidditch (which Jacob was eager to compete in once he was old enough) to the upcoming boat ride across the lake that the first years took. Neither Luke nor Scorpius were surprised by Jacob's excitement at the Quidditch match, and they were all curious about the boat ride where they would get their first look at Hogwarts.

"The weather is nice out," Luke offered on the topic of the boats and looked out the window he sat next to at the clear blue sky. "It should be like a dream as long as the weather holds."

Jacob rolled his eyes at his brother's confident voice and asked sarcastically. "Is there anything you don't know?"

"Plenty," Luke replied to his twin smartly without looking away from the window. "That's why I'm going to school."

Jacob huffed and looked towards the compartment doo, the opposite direction Luke was looking. Scorpius was amazed yet again how different Luke and Jacob were despite being identical twins. They were the children of Marcus Flint and Jessica Avery, and although they had their father's black hair it was as soft as fine as their mother's. Overall they looked more like their mother with dark blue eyes and gentle features.

Despite their identical appearances, their personalities clashed. Jacob had a roguish half-wild charm where Luke was logical and level-headed. Luke preferred to have his nose in a book and Jacob wanted to be in the sky on his broomstick racing around. In order to look different, Jacob kept his hair long and Luke kept his short. Luke had bangs that half covered his left eye where Jacob's framed his face.

There was a quiet click of rolling wheels in the hallway, and someone knocked on their compartment door before opening it. IN the hallway was a trolley was heaped high with all sorts of candy from Honeydukes, and an older witch pushing it.

"Want anything off the trolley dears?" She asked the three of them kindly.

"Jellybeans," Jacob chimed instantly and reached inside his robes for a galleon.

Luke turned from the window and made a face at Jacob. "Some of those Every Flavor Beans? You're crazy."

Jacob grinned, "Just because you got that mustard one doesn't mean they're all bad."

"I'll just have a chocolate frog," Luke muttered.

"Anything for you?" She asked Scorpius in the same gentle voice while she got the twins their candy.

"Do you have any Glacial Snow Flakes?" Scorpius asked.

The witch nodded and reached underneath for a box of them.

"Excuse me," a quiet voice asked.

The witch looked up with the box in hand, surprised to see a young witch standing behind her. "Yes, my dear?"

"Do you have anything but sweets?" The witch asked.

Her words were stiff and cold, as if she didn't know how to interact.

The old witch looked caught off guard and shook her head apologetically. "No, I'm sorry."

"That's all right," the young witch said.

She realized that the three boys inside the compartment were staring at her so she looked at them. Her appearance surprised the boys. Although she didn't have her Hogwarts robes on she looked young enough to be a first-year. The witch's skin was fair, pale by normal comparison like porcelain, and her hair was tied up in two ponytails with a few bangs near her right eye.

What was surprising about her was that her hair was silver-white, an unnatural color the boys had never seen before, and her eyes were different as well. The irises were dark amethyst with just a touch of magenta or fuchsia pink, and the pupils seemed to be slightly slitted like a cat's rather than perfectly round as they should be. The silver-haired witch looked back to the witch at the trolley cart.

"Thank you anyway," she said politely and walked away without glancing back inside the compartment.

The silver-haired witch looked back at the witch in the trolley cart, "thank you anyway." Without looking back at Scorpius she walked down the hallway.

The witch at the trolley shrugged it off and handed Scorpius his candy. He paid for it and she pushed her cart past their compartment to the next to ask the same question to the people there. Jacob was already tearing into his jellybeans.

"She was cute wasn't she?" Jacob asked as he tossed a blue jellybean into his mouth, "Mm, blueberry."

Scorpius knew Jacob meant the silver-haired witch, and purposely looked away from Jacob to the window where the countryside continued to roll past. Luke kept a firm grip on his Chocolate Frog as he looked at the card, smiling when he saw it was a Morgana Le Fey card that he didn't already have in his collection. Although Luke was reading the card, Scorpius could tell he was paying attention to what Jacob was saying.

"I think that was an Arclight," Luke said cautiously as Jacob picked up a green jellybean and Scorpius tore open his box.

"A what?" Jacob asked.

He winced as he ate the next jellybean, realizing it had was spinach and making a face at its taste.

"Arclight," Luke repeated. "I think her family name was Arclight. I'm not sure, but I think they're pure-bloods, though not part of the 28. They're not very famous for certain."

"Which book did you read that one from?" Jacob asked as he fished out another jellybean, not surprised Luke would know something as random as that.

Luke didn't bother answering his twin, and recited what he had read, taking advantage of his photographic memory. "Their family is known for having silver hair and dark, unusual eye colors. If I remember correctly then they didn't participate in either of the Wizarding Wars. I don't know what they think of muggles or other wizards since they rarely interact with the Wizarding World. Their children are usually home-schooled."

"Then why is she here?" Jacob challenged and picked up a gray jellybean, eyeing it in suspicion. "If Arclights home-school their children then she shouldn't be at Hogwarts. You must be wrong."

"Maybe," Luke sighed dramatically and bit the head of his chocolate frog off before it could escape. "It has happened once before."

Jacob sighed, and Luke drew his eyebrows together.

"I think there was something else about the Arclights, but I can't remember," he admitted.

"You forgot something your read?" Scorpius blinked in surprise and ate a handful of the Glacial Snow Flakes, savoring their sweet taste as they melted in his mouth.

"Of course not," Luke promised in a voice that hinted he was insulted. "I just can't recall what it is at the moment. I'll remember."

Jacob coughed suddenly as he ate the grey jelly bean and regretted it. "Stupid jellybeans! I just ate a dirty sock flavor!"

Luke laughed softly t his brother's expense and put the Chocolate Frog card inside his robe while Jacob kept coughing.

"Stop laughing!" He demanded his twin once he swallowed it. "It is not funny!"

That only served to make Luke laugh harder and Jacob tried to steal the rest of Luke's chocolate frog in retaliation. He failed, and the two began bickering about the frog and the jelly beans. Scorpius watched his friends quietly, not feeling the overwhelming need to speak up. Just watching his friends enjoy themselves made him smile.

They hadn't even made it to the school yet. If the chaos on the train ride was any indication, the Scorpius bet this was going to be an interesting school year.

* * *

 **I suppose Scorpius is something akin to a wallflower, but as long as his friends are happy so is he. It can't have been easy for him, growing up as the son of the Malfoys, traitors twice. The witch mentioned here will be returning, and it may or may not be as a protagonist.**


	2. Sorting

Scorpius was sitting on the bow of the small wooden boat as it sailed effortlessly across the lake later that day with the Flint twins to either side of him. He watched in awe with the twins as Hogwarts castle came into view for the first time. It towered over the fleet of boats and Scorpius was not the only student to be in awe.

Nearer the great castle of Hogwarts loomed until at last the boats passed into a hole in the cliff face covered by a thin veil of ivy, and into a tunnel. The sight of Hogwarts had made Scorpius forget his nervousness, but as the boats pulled themselves onto a shore of rocks and pebbles it returned with a vengeance. He did his best to ignore it as he and the twins climbed out of their boat and walked up to a flight of stairs that led to a set of oaken doors.

Scorpius saw that silver-haired witch walking up by herself, and that Potter boy he had bumped into was with a girl who had frizzy red hair tied back in a tight ponytail. There were other children, some he recognized as fellow pure-bloods and others of less pure origins. Hagrid, groundskeeper and professor, led the mob of eleven year olds up the stairs to the door which he knocked on.

Almost instantly the door opened to reveal a middle-aged witch with dark red hair tied back in a fishtail braid. She wore Gryffindor colors, and there was an impatient look to her features. Scorpius got the feeling from the way her grey-blue eyes overlooked the children that she was not someone to cross.

"Here are the firs' years, Professor Northwind," Hagrid introduced the children to the witch who had greeted them.

The door to the entry hall opened and Hagrid stepped back so the group of children could enter. Everything was gigantic and the flames from its torches threw dancing light across the wall. Scorpius swallowed, but walked confidently. Professor Northwind silently took them across the flagged stones to a small chamber.

Beyond, they could hear the voices of the rest of the school. There sounded like a lot of people. Jacob, used to bluffing, kept an almost bored expression on his face while Luke struggled to appear calm.

Once the crowd of children was gathered, Professor Northwind addressed them. "Welcome to your first year at Hogwarts. Before you take your seats in the Great Hall you will be sorted into your house. These houses are important and they will be your fellow classmates, friends and perhaps rivals. The four houses are Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin."

Scorpius noticed a slight note of disdain in her voice when she said the last house. Because Salazar Slytherin had advocated for blood purity, nearly all of Slytherin's house members were pure bloods. It had been mostly former Slytherin members who had stood beside Voldemort in the Second Wizarding War as Death Eaters and supporters. The house was not as popular as it had once been.

"Also," Northwind continued, "as long as you are at Hogwarts, you represent your house. Victories will earn your house points while rule-breaking will lose them. At the end of each year, the house with the most points wins the house cup. So remember what mischief might cause your house to lose, and I hope that you all become a credit to your house."

Again, Scorpius detected that note in her voice. She was likely thinking that most Slytherins who had become a _'credit to their house'_ had done so by using the Dark Arts. Well Mrs. Professor, Scorpius thought sharply, you're wrong. Slytherin isn't a bad house.

"You have a few minutes to clean yourselves up before your fellow students see you for the first time," Northwind finished. "I suggest you take advantage of them. I will return shortly for you. Please remain quiet."

She left the chamber, and the instant the door closed the gathered students started whispering. Those who were muggle-born wanted to know what she meant by sorted. Others simply whispered with their friends, each trying to bolster another's courage about what was coming up.

Luke ran his fingers through his bangs, trying to dispel a bit of nervous energy while Jacob bounced on the balls of his toes as if he were getting ready to run. Scorpius smoothed the front of his robe, trying to make his mind blank. Unfortunately, Jacob was the expert at that.

The door opened unexpectedly, and Professor Northwind returned. Her reappearance quieted things remarkably quickly.

"Form a line and follow me first years," the Professor told them.

Scorpius thought he might pass out from nervousness as he got into line with the twins behind him. That though would be a very poor way to start off the school year though, so he did his best to swallow it down and walk. The line of children left the chamber and walked back into the hall and through the doors of the Great Hall.

Scorpius was amazed by how many children there were. His parents had told him of the floating candles, the gold tableware, and the enchanted ceiling, but what they failed to mention was just how many students there were. Four tables were lined up parallel to each other and the group walked down the middle. Ahead of them was another table where adults – the Professors – were sitting. Sitting in the throne like chair of the Headmistress was an older witch in green robes. That had to be Professor McGonagall, a former Gryffindor.

Sitting on a four-legged stool was the old Sorting Hat. Luke had once said that the Sorting Hat had been in Hogwarts since the first year the school opened. When Scorpius us saw the hat, he had to admit it seemed likely.

After a moment of sitting on the stool, the hat twitched, straightened, and began to sing its yearly song.

 _"A thousand years ago_

 _There lived four wizards of renown:_

 _Bold Gryffindor,_

 _Fair Ravenclaw,_

 _Sweet Hufflepuff,_

 _Shrewd Slytherin,_

 _"_

 _They shared a wish, a hope, a dream,_

 _They hatched a daring plan_

 _To educate young sorcerers_

 _Thus Hogwarts School began._

 _"_

 _Now each of these_

 _Formed their own house, for each_

 _Did value different things._

 _"_

 _By Gryffindor, the bravest were_

 _Prized far beyond the rest;_

 _For Ravenclaw, the cleverest_

 _Would always be the best;_

 _For Hufflepuff, hard workers were_

 _Most worthy of admission;_

 _And power-hungry Slytherin_

 _Loved those of great ambition._

 _"_

 _While still alive they picked their_

 _favorites from the throng,_

 _Yet how to pick the ones_

 _When they were dead and gone?_

 _"_

 _Twas Gryffindor who found a way,_

 _He put some brains in me_

 _So I could choose instead!_

 _"_

 _Now slip me about your ears,_

 _I'll have a look inside your mind_

 _And tell where you belong!"_

The gathered students sitting at the table clapped, although Scorpius noticed the lyrics of the song. _Power-hungry Slytherin_ , you said, _those of great ambition_. You said _Gryffindor was valued beyond the rest_ to, didn't you?

Professor Northwind stepped forward with a scroll in her hands. "Step forward when your name is called so you may be sorted. Ackerman, Joseph!"

A boy with short and fluffy brown hair put on the hat and sat down. After a few seconds pause the hat announced, "RAVENCLAW!"

The table third from the left cheered and Joseph Ackerman gratefully took off the hat and went to them. Scorpius looked around the tables. It was easy to identify the houses from the colors the students were wearing and the houses went from left to right: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Slytherin, and Hufflepuff.

"Arclight, Petal!" Professor Northwind called unexpectedly.

Scorpius looked away from the tables to the hat as the silver-haired witch walked over to it. Luke elbowed his twin victoriously. Despite the fact that Arclights home-schooled their children, this girl was an Arclight. Why she was here instead of with her family was unknown, but Luke knew that he was right.

Without hardly any pause at all, the hat announced, "SLYTHERIN!"

Petal Arclight seemed neither pleased nor displease and hopped off the stool. The people at the Slytherin table clapped and cheered although they were being a bit cautious. Like with Scorpius and Jacob, they had never heard of the Arclight family before and assumed she was a muggleborn or a mudblood. One of the students asked her something, and Petal shook her head. The Slytherin students relaxed, so likely the question had been about her heritage.

Other children were called up and were sorted among the various houses. Erebus Carrow, another pure-blood friend of Scorpius's joined the Slytherin House with Petal, followed by both of the Flint twins. Luke, aware of his friend's nervousness, gave Scorpius a reassuring smile. Scorpius looked down instead of returning it.

Finally, Northwind said, "Malfoy, Scorpius."

Scorpius forced himself to walk forward and sit on the stool, the hat on his head. Unlike with his father, it did not instantly declare him a Slytherin. It hesitation did not help Scorpius's nerves.

It hummed quietly and mused so only he could hear, "intriguing. You have great courage and loyalty. I could see you with the lion."

Lion? That meant Gryffindor!

"No," Scorpius responded softly and strongly, "not Gryffindor."

"Not Gryffindor?" The hat chuckled quietly. "That is an odd statement. Most would be pleased to be in that house."

"I don't need to be in Gryffindor to prove I'm a good wizard," Scorpius explained. "I can do that from any other house."

"You want to clear their name," the hat noted. "Very well, you may try. SLYTHERIN!"

Cheers now came from the Slytherin table. They were not as loud as they could have been or – Scorpius suspected – as loud as they had been for his father.

"I'll do more then try," Scorpius challenged the Sorting Hat as he took it off and set it on the stool.

The hat chuckled at his declaration as Scorpius walked down the steps and to his Housemates. Its confidence scared him, but only a little bit. He had said before he ever got on the train that he would prove his family and Slytherin were good wizards, and he fully intended to do that. If the hat didn't believe him then he would just have to prove it wrong.

Jacob waved him down childishly, and Luke stomped on his foot. His move made Jacob lower his hands, and for a moment it looked like Jacob was going to shove Luke off of his bench. Scorpius sat across from the twins with a sigh, knowing this was exactly why the two of them were usually kept separated.

"Ha," Jacob told him with a smile, "I told you everything would work out fine."

"You did not," Luke argued. "On the train you were scared you'd end up in Gryffindor with all those mixed-bloods and blood traitors."

"Did not," Jacob argued back.

Scorpius was about to speak up to separate the two of them when Professor Northwind suddenly called out, "Potter, Albus."

A murmur slipped through the crowd at the mention of another of the children of the famous Harry Potter, and the twins looked away from each other to the Sorting Hat as the Potter boy walked up to the hat.

It took but a second for it to call out "GRYFFINDOR!"

The thunderous eruption of cheers and applause from the Gryffindor table made Scorpius jump. Albus grinned as he set the hat respectfully on the stool and jumped down the stairs to where his older brother James was. Scorpius felt just a little envious of his loud greeting, but could hardly be surprised by it.

More names were called out until there was only one student left, and Professor Northwind called out the name of the red-haired girl that had been with Albus. "Weasley, Rose."

The girl was a Weasley then, and a blood traitor. No, Scorpius corrected himself. Her mother was a muggle-born so she was a half-blood, and in a way that was even worse. The hat declared the girl a Gryffindor as well and she walked primly down the steps and sat next to Albus. After that Professor Northwood rolled up the scroll and took the hat and stool away.

The new students and the older ones spoke quietly, and the Flint twins were instantly dragged into a conversation. No one spoke to Scorpius until Jacob got into an argument over which Quidditch team was better, Ireland or Bulgaria, which inevitably sparked a debate. Scorpius like Ireland better personally like Jacob did, but Luke mentioned that Bulgaria was better.

Quidditch wasn't as popular with Slytherin as it was with the other houses, but the twins managed to get support on both their sides and Scorpius stopped trying to referee them fairly quickly. The first challenge seemed to be over, and the first-years were mostly accepted into Slytherin. Scorpius still got veiled looks that were not otherwise directed at the twins, but that was usually how everyone glanced at him. He was a Malfoy, and his family had made many mistakes. Scorpius would fix them all. Somehow, he would.

* * *

 **After the mess with Voldemort, things are pretty bad for the pure-bloods. A lot of wizards belief foolishly that all of the pure-bloods were allies of Voldemort. For Scorpius, it's worse because the non-purebloods know that his family were close supporters of Voldemort, and the pure-bloods know that his family betrayed Voldemort and let Potter escape so he's caught no matter what.**

 **I wish Scorpius luck in his "quest" to clear the Malfoy name. For certain, it will not be easy.**


	3. Nightmare

After dinner was over and McGonagall had said a few words, the House Perfects escorted their new first-year students back to the dorms as the older students either raced ahead or wandered off. The boy Slytherin Prefect was a sixth year pureblood with slicked back black hair. There was no sign of the girl Prefect.

The Slytherin group went down to the dungeon where their common room was, and stopped before a stone wall that appeared to be a dead end.

"Shadow Rise," the Perfect announced.

After a moment the door moved aside to allow the group entry.

"That was the password," the Prefect told them. "Don't forget it and don't tell anyone outside of Slytherin or they'll be able to get inside to. It will change every fortnight so keep up with them. The new ones will be on the noticeboard."

Then the group of first-years entered the Slytherin dorms. Scorpius's father had told him before he had gotten on the train that the Slytherin dungeon was partly underneath the lake, and Scorpius thought for a moment when he entered that he was underwater. His eyes soon adjusted, and he stared at the scene before him.

"Wow," he whispered, a murmur echoed by the other first years.

Beyond them lay the common room for the Slytherin house. The room was made of stone and greenish lamps hung from the ceiling, giving off a light not unlike you would expect from being underwater. There were lots of low backed black and dark green leather sofas, and the tables and cabinets were made of dark wood. Skulls sat on the mantle of the fireplace where a green and white fire burned. Tapestries featuring the adventures of famous Slytherins hung on the walls.

There were windows scattered across the walls that resembled stained glass except they were clear instead of colored. Beyond the windows was not sky, but the lake and Scorpius saw a few fish swim past the windows. Green underwater-like light poured into the room, adding to the somewhat enchanting atmosphere that encompassed the common room.

Windows that opened to the lake? Scorpius smiled and glanced back at the excited twins. His father really wasn't exaggerating. The all-around atmosphere was also rather grand one, and Scorpius wasn't the only one looking around wide-eyed. As he looked around he spotted many of his friends that had been sorted into here and Petal Arclight, but she was looking at the fireplace as if she were bored. That seemed a bit arrogant of her, Scorpius thought.

"Girls bunk to the left, boys to the right," the Perfect waved his hand to two dark wooden doors set in a wall. "Your things are already in your rooms although you're free to swap beds. I suggest you get some rest. Classes begin tomorrow, and schedules will be handed out at breakfast."

With that, the Prefect walked to one of the tables where his friends were and left them. After a moment of hovering the students dispersed. Unsure what else to do, Scorpius went to the boys dorms. The beds were four-poster, made of dark wood with emerald curtains struck through with silver threading. Luke and Jacob were side by side, and Jacob switched with Scorpius so that the brother's weren't next to each other. It was a wise idea that would help keep them from fighting.

There were a total of six beds in the first-year boys, and besides Scorpius, the twins, and Erebus Carrow, Scorpius saw Aaron Goyle. He was the son Gregory Goyle, and Aaron Goyle gave Scorpius a dirty look as he set out his things on the bed furthest from Scorpius against the wall. Besides Goyle was Earic Selwyn, a friend of Goyle's. Erebus's bed was next to Selwyn's, and Luke's beside Erebus. Jacob was the furthest from Goyle, which was another good precaution to avoid trouble.

After everyone arranged, Scorpius opened his trunk and began to unpack his things for the night so he could get to bed. That night when everyone finally drifted off to sleep, Scorpius's dreams were troubled. In his dream it was raining out, a heavy soaking rain, and he was outside his family's manor. Scorpius shook the rain out of his eyes and ran up to the house's front door. It had been kicked in.

Terror made him freeze on the doorstep. The door was kicked in. He held his wand in his hand, trembling. Beyond was a scene of disaster. His home had been torn apart. Holding his wand in front of him, he entered. Cabinets, shelves, mirrors, tables, all had been overturned and smashed.

There was a sound to his left, and Scorpius gathered his courage after a moment and ran into the drawing room. There he found his mother's body on the ground, eyes glazed over in death. Traces of the killing curse were still fluttering around her body.

Standing above her was his father, and the same green color around his mother's body was around his father's wand as if he was the one who had cast the killing curse. Draco Malfoy was wearing short sleeves and Scorpius could see the scar on his father's inner right forearm. His father's eyes were cold as he raised first his eyes and then his wand to his son.

"F-father?" Scorpius whispered.

Without any hesitation, Draco Malfoy spoke the killing curse. "Avada Kedavra."

"Father!" Scorpius screamed as he thrown backwards when the green light hit him.

Scorpius jolted awake and sat up sharply. Sweat slicked his short hair and he had tangled himself in his sheets. He took a few shaky breathes and looked around. It took a moment for him to realize that he was in his dorm room in Hogwarts. The other first-year boys were sound asleep in their beds.

With a sigh of relief, Scorpius flopped back onto his pillow and closed his eyes. It was just a nightmare. What a nightmare though, Scorpius thought and curled onto his side, legs close to his chest.

Scorpius had noticed several years ago the odd scar on his father's inner left forearm. It looked weird to him, like a snake coming out of the mouth of a skull. He had asked his father about it, but Draco had switched to another topic. After that had happened a few times – and with his mother acting the same – Scorpius had given up and looked up the symbol himself.

He had learned that it was called the Dark mark and the symbol of Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters. It could also be summoned into the sky with the invocation of "morsmordre." That had in turn led him to the three unforgivable curses that the Death Eaters tended to use.

Why did his father have that mark? Scorpius had asked himself. The Death Eaters were evil wizards, and his father was not evil.

Finally, he had cornered his father and made him tell about the scar. Draco had been reluctant to do so and stunned when he realized just how much research Scorpius had done. He wasn't pleased, but had at last told his son about some of the mistakes he had made while he was at Hogwarts.

After that, Scorpius was able to understand better why the other pure-blood families were a wary around them. Draco's mistakes had stained the Malfoy name, but Scorpius didn't blame his father. As far as he was concerned, his father was good and Scorpius was proud to be a Malfoy and now a Slytherin.

He could hear the murmur and flow of the lake overhead even in his bed. The noise was likely supposed to be soothing, but Scorpius had never spent much time on the water and it gave him the distinct impression that the ceiling was about to cave in. It might not be a bad idea to learn a spell that let him breathe underwater, if only to make him feel a little more at ease.

Scorpius fidgeted in his bed some, but knew that he would never be able to go back to sleep again and sat up with a sigh. This was not the best way to start off the school year, but at least he hadn't woken up the other boys and annoyed them. With a sigh, he tossed the covers aside and got out of bed.

He quietly left his bedroom and padded barefoot to the common room. The stone floor was cold on his feet. Scorpius had hoped that it would be deserted this early in the morning, but his hopes were scattered shortly after he closed the door behind him and stepped into the common room.

Someone had moved a chair and was sitting in front of the underwater windows. For a moment, Scorpius thought he could retreat without being seen but then the figure turned and looked right at him. Her shimmering silver hair, hung loose instead of tied up, made it clear it was Petal Arclight.

"Hello," Petal greeted him.

Scorpius swallowed, but knew there was no way he could back out now.

"Hi," he whispered back, walking further into the common room.

"Can't sleep either?" Petal asked, and didn't look surprised when Scorpius shook his head.

Petal looked back out the window. "It's hard adjusting to a new home, especially when you would rather be at your real home. I thought that listening to the water would calm me down."

"You're used to the water?" Scorpius stepped closer to her and sat on one of the leather chairs.

"My family's villa is right on the shoreline," Petal nodded. "You?"

"I've never spent much time near it," Scorpius shrugged, wondering why Petal was looking out the window instead of at him. "Are you looking for something?"

"There's a colony of sirens that lives near our villa," Petal admitted. "They were curious about their northern cousins and asked me to see if I could see what they looked like."

"Sirens?" Scorpius blinked in surprise. "You mean Merfolk."

"The Southern ones that live in the warmer waters are called Sirens," Petal elaborated. "They're really pretty, but ones that live further north are called Selkies and supposed are ugly by comparison. There's supposed to be a colony of Selkies in Hogwarts' Lake, and the Sirens asked me if I could look at them and see if the rumors were true."

Scorpius looked at her curiously. "You grew up with a colony of merfolk?"

"Among other animals," Petal reflected and said distantly, lost in a memory. "The Sirens taught me how to swim."

Scorpius was surprised, and smiled, thinking it was nice to be able to talk with someone. "That sounds like fun."

"Sirens can be vindictive," Petal warned, "but not to their friends. They're like centaurs although nowhere near as secretive."

Scorpius was startled to hear her say the word _Centaurs_. "Where is your family's villa?"

Petal didn't answer his question, and when she spoke it was on a different subject. "Are you worried about classes tomorrow?"

"A little," Scorpius admitted, unsure why she had switched the topic but willing to let the switch slide. "But I'm sure I can handle anything they throw at me."

"So confident," Petal chuckled as if amused.

She smiled slightly, and it was an odd smile. Her lips moved, but she didn't reveal her teeth. Scorpius felt a little ruffled by her voice because Petal was addressing him as if he were a small child, even though they were the same age.

"Good luck," She told him in a manner that might have been innocently teasing if spoken a little differently, but dismissive as it was.

With that she walked past him to the girl's dorm where the three other first-year girls were. Scorpius glanced over his shoulder at her curiously, wondering why she seemed so haughty. It wasn't his concern though, and he looked back out the window.

His father had told him that there was a giant squid that lived in the lake and that if often swam by the Slytherin common room, looking through the windows to see the students. Scorpius watched the fish swim by for a few minutes, and sat down where Petal had been sitting previously. He stayed there for most of the night, unable to feel tired after the fright of his nightmare. Although he watched the windows, the squid never appeared.

* * *

 **Scorpius grew up with his parents sheltering him from everything they know about the Dark Wizards because Draco does not want his son tangled up in the same things he was. It didn't really work as well as it should have. The nightmare Scorpius had was odd, and didn't seem like a normal nightmare, too detailed. Wonder what it was.**


	4. Cursed Blood

All first year students had the same classes: Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, History of Magic, Defense against the Dark Arts, Astronomy, and Herbology. Later in the school year they would also have flying lessons.

Herbology, Scorpius's first class early in the morning, was taught by Professor Neville Longbottom, a former Gryffindor.

History of Magic, his next class, was taught by a ghost. Scorpius had thought that since the teacher was a ghost that it might be interesting and Luke, ever eager to learn, thought it would be good. Both were quickly proven wrong. Despite the fact that Professor Binns flew through the air and the blackboard it was boring. Scorpius's lack of sleep caught up with him, and he would have fallen asleep if Jacob hadn't kicked him.

After that was lunch and a nice meal did wonders to helping Scorpius stay awake. The twins kept dragging Scorpius into their conversation and the rest of Slytherin chatted. Scorpius noticed curiously that no one talked to Petal, but considering her haughty manner was hardly surprised. Near the end of lunch, he saw Petal take some of her lunch and wrap it in her napkin, slipping it under the table.

Afterwards, the first-years had a free period and Scorpius planned to head back to his room and sneak in a nap. Jacob wanted to check out the Quidditch field, of course, and Luke wanted to see the library, of course, so the three boys split up.

There were other Slytherins in the common room when Scorpius got there. Two of them were playing wizard's chess and the one with the red pieces was winning. They were older students, several years ahead of Scorpius. Although they focused on their game, other students chatted. Scorpius stayed quiet, least they spot him. The name Malfoy was not the best thing anymore.

"Hey!" One of the students shouted.

Scorpius stopped walked and swallowed. Had he been seen?

It was the wizard chess players. The one with the red pieces had suddenly lost the advantage with his queen.

The student with the white pieces smiled, and said somewhat bitterly. "You have as much chance of beating me as we do of getting the House Cup."

"That's pretty sure," the red player muttered as he looked at the chess board.

Scorpius either hadn't been noticed, or was being ignored. He was relieved, and also saddened by the surety of their conversation. In the 19 years since the Second Wizarding War and the death of the Dark Lord, Slytherin had not won the House Cup. Not even once. Gryffindor had won it 10 out of those 19 times and had won the past two years, ever since James Potter had been enrolled. As long as there was a Potter enrolled, Gryffindor would win it every time. It wasn't fair.

The white player's knight suddenly moved across the board. With a flash of his sword, the knight knocked over the red player's King.

"That's checkmate," the white player smiled.

"What!" The wizard with the red pieces shouted. "How did you do that again?! That is not fair!"

"Is to," the wizard with the white pieces replied smugly.

"Is NOT!" The red player shouted back.

"It isn't my fault you're a sore loser," the white player replied cheekily, and took out his wand, whispering "repairo."

The smashed red and white pieces reassembled themselves at his command.

"I am NOT!" The red player huffed.

He drew his wand and the two wizards stood suddenly, wands raised as if they were about to engage in a wizard duel. Their chairs crashed to the ground and the wizard chess board was overturned to crash as well. Its pieces scattered.

Scorpius held his breath. He didn't think these two students were about to duel, but it sure was tense. Come to think of it, he'd never seen a wizard duel, so this might be fun to watch. They were students, so it wasn't like they would kill each other.

Any chance of that happening vanished when the door to the girl's dormitory opened and a witch walked out, sleepily rubbing her eyes purple-pink eyes. "Could you please be a little bit quieter? There are some of us trying to get in a nap between classes."

"Petal," Scorpius whispered in surprise, suddenly feeling a little concerned for her.

He glanced around. Unlike some of the other houses, Slytherins tended to be hostile towards their housemates, and Petal's tone was a rather snippy was like she had a right to order the older students around, and her arrogance was going to get her in trouble.

"We don't take orders from you," the wizard that had just lost the chess game snapped, still in a bad mood.

Petal rolled her eyes and hung her head, silver hair falling around her shoulders as she muttered, "idiotic mutes."

Mutes? Scorpius had never heard that insult before, and now stepped back against the wall. He was sure it was an insult and that Petal was soon going to be in trouble. Should he try and do something, but what could he do? He hadn't had a single lesson with his wand yet.

"Mute?" The winning player said in confusion and looked at his opponent, who only shrugged.

"There are several other first-years who didn't get any sleep last night," Petal sighed and looked back up at them in annoyance. "Your um, _duel_ has woken several of us up. Could you please be a little quieter?"

"This isn't your concern girl," the loser of the game warned her.

"Last I checked you two morons were the ones making the noise that was keeping us up, so it is my concern," Petal grumbled and crossed her arms over her chest, left arm over her right.

"Make yourself scarce mudblood," the sore loser sneered.

"I'm not a mudblood," Petal shook her head and then looked up at him with a taunting smile. "Although I wouldn't expect a mute like you to understand. My family told me not to expect much from this school."

Petal almost looked like she was looking down on the two older, fourth-year students despite being shorter. Scorpius was bewildered and surprised by her arrogance. What did she expect to do if they had never had a lesson before?

"I'm asking you nicely to be quiet," Petal told the boys in a chastising tone as if they were younger than one, the same one she had used on Scorpius last night. "Don't make me ask you unnicely."

Petal frowned and raised her right hand to her face, rubbing her bottom lip. "I guess I can't say that. Unnicely isn't a word. What could I use instead?"

She looked up to the ceiling as she thought, and Scorpius glanced around the common room at the other students. It was dead silent, and everyone was watching them. There was no way Petal could take on both of them, and even though they were classmates Scorpius was sure they would jinx her. The two duelists looked at each other incredulously.

"Did you just threaten us?" The winner asked dangerously.

Petal lowered her eyes from the ceiling and blinked at him. "Threaten. I suppose that's a word that might work. Don't make me threaten you. Yep, that works fine. Thank you."

Apparently, she thought she could. The two opponents looked at each other and smiled.

"You want a duel girl?" The loser asked. "You've got one."

Petal shook her head. "I'd just as soon not duel."

"All bark and no bite huh," the loser taunted.

"No," Petal sighed. "I just don't want to embarrass you mutes."

Scorpius winced, still not sure where the word mute had come from, but knowing that comment would get her in trouble. Since she was a fellow classmate he didn't want to see her thrown across the room, and reached for his wand in his belt. He hesitated before he touched it, reminding himself that he couldn't do anything without lessons.

The loser smiled and looked around, but when it was clear no one would stop him he raised his wand to her and began to say, "Stupe-"

"Expelliarmus," Petal snapped, beating him to it.

Her wand was suddenly in her hand despite Scorpius not having seen her draw it, and there was a flash of light in the loser's hand. His wand was sent flying out of his hand mid-word and clattered to the floor behind him. The loser stared at his empty hand and then up at her, wondering how it was she knew a spell despite her not having taken any lessons.

"Flipendo," she said now.

There was a loud bang as the loser was knocked off his feet and crashed into one of the sofas, knocking it over as he fell to the ground. Petal smiled as she saw him crash to the ground as if she enjoyed the sight. The sudden warmth in her smile made Scorpius cringe.

"S-Stupefy!" The winner of the chess game called out.

Petal jumped to one side, as neatly as if she were dancing and the spell missed her. It hit the wall, and as Petal spun back to face the attacker, she raised her wand to him. She was still smiling.

"Cruci-" Petal caught her tongue just before she finished speaking the spell, and instead ordered "Stupefy."

"Protego," the winner managed to say and flicked his wand.

Her stunning spell hit the shield and dissolved around him confidently, but Petal had already repeated her command. The next spell hit him, and he crashed to the ground, stunned. Petal looked around the common room, but when no one else challenged her lowered her wand and brushed a lock of hair behind her ear with a smile.

Crucio, Scorpius thought to himself. Petal had almost used Crucio on her Housemate, and she was still smiling. She was supposed to be a first-year with no magical lessons, so how was she able to go around winning a duel against older students?

"How did you do that?" One of the older students whispered.

Petal smiled again and turned to face the one that had spoken. "Do not confuse me for one of you, mute. I am an Arclight, and I have had my wand for far longer than you would think."

With that Petal walked back to the door that led to the girl's dormitory and entered. Before she closed it, she turned back to the other students.

"Next time someone wants to duel, they might wish to take it outside the dorm," Petal warned and flicked her wand at some of the many windows in the common room. "Outside at least, a spell cannot accidently shatter one of these windows keeping the lake out. I would just as soon the common room not end up even more underwater then it already is."

She then turned, and closed the door behind her with a flick of her wand without verbally speaking a charm. The instant it latched, some of the friends of the two Petal had defeated ran over to them. Stupefy's counterspell was used on one, and the other was helped to his feet while the sofa was rightened.

"What's with that first year?" The duelist who had been thrown over the sofa muttered and rubbed his head. "Why is she so strong?"

"She said she's had her wand for a while," his friend told him. "I guess she's a first-year's age, but not a first-year's skill."

"What was with the Unforgivable Curse then?" The duelist who had gotten stunned asked once he was freed. "Sheesh, she's worse than a Death Eater. And she was able to dodge my spell. She's had practice to be able to do that."

"A mute huh?" A third-year said softly. "Wonder if that has something to do with it."

"Has anyone even heard of an Arclight before?" One of the duelists asked aloud. "She's no muggle-born if she got her wand early."

There was no answer from anyone. Scorpius had heard of them only from what Luke had said on the train, but he didn't mention it. By now, he had stopped trying to inch to his bed as he didn't feel the least bit sleepy. Now he wanted to find the twins. Was that the other thing about Arlicghts that Luke hadn't been able to remember, that they were good duelists?

He tried to leave the Slytherin Dungeon as quietly as he could, but his plan was instantly thwarted. As he turned to leave, he crashed into another student he hadn't realized was standing near him. Scorpius stumbled back and his foot slipped on the tile. He wasn't able to catch himself in time and he crashed to the floor hard, although he luckily didn't crack his head on the floor.

He looked up sharply, but any response he had faded away when he saw who he had bumped into. It was Griffin Lestrange, nephew to Bellatrix Lestrange and Scorpius's distant cousin. Griffin was also four years Scorpius's senior, starting his fifth-year.

"Scorpius," Griffin greeted his distant cousin.

Scorpius pushed himself back onto his feet, somewhat shyly and asked. He sighed, "Did you see the duel?"

"Duel?" Griffin blinked. "I missed a duel?"

He looked past Scorpius to where the two older boys were, partially surrounded by other Slytherin students.

"No," Scorpius supposed. "You just missed a first year proving she's good at curses."

"A first year?" Griffin blinked. "A first year did that?"

"Yep," Scorpius said softly, remembering her smile as she began to whisper the torture curse and the scorn as she called them 'mutes.'

Griffin blinked in surprise. "I'm impressed," Griffin admitted. "Where's the wizard who pulled that off?"

"Witch," Scorpius corrected him, "and she's sleeping. She took them out because they were making too much noise. I'm going to go find the twins."

He slipped past his cousin at that and went into the hall, really wanting to speak to Luke about the Arclights. Unfortunately, he did not get far before he heard footsteps echoing on the floor behind him. Scorpius assumed it was Griffin and rolled his eyes.

"I'm sorry I don't know about what else Griffin," Scorpius sighed. "I don't know how that first-year managed her spells."

The person behind Scorpius suddenly raised his arm around his throat and dragged him back a step, tightly enough that he couldn't breathe.

"I'm not your kin blood traitor," a voice hissed in his ear as they tightened their grip.

Scorpius instantly reached for his wand, but whoever was strangling him grabbed it from his hand, and tossed it down the hall. There went Scorpius's only option. Without a wand, Scorpius could do nothing. Griffin or the twins would stop Goyle quickly enough, but Scorpius was by himself.

The room started to spin a little from lack of oxygen, and Scorpius bit his teeth together. Scorpius tried to swallow, but failed. He couldn't breathe. Goyle knew that actually killing Scorpius would get him in too much trouble so before the blood traitor actually passed out from oxygen loss he dropped him.

Scorpius landed on his stomach and coughed, drawing in enough air to breathe finally. He was relieved that he could breathe and coughed as he drew in air. Where was his wand? It wasn't in sight, and he turned over onto his back to see Goyle. Earic Selwyn wasn't in sight at least, and that was a small mercy.

Gregory Goyle and Vincent Crabbe had once been close friends of Scorpius's father, but now things had changed. Goyle and Draeco's son were not friends though. Many pureblood families no longer considered them friends.

Scorpius looked away, and spotted his wand of acacia and dragon heartstring. Before he could attempt to grab it, Goyle kicked him across the face and back to the ground. His head spun.

"Stay down you filthy blood traitor," Goyle snarled at Scorpius.

"I'm not a blood traitor," Scorpius managed to say as he tasted blood on his lips.

He kicked out a foot and got Goyle in the leg. It sounded like his foot cracked something as he scrambled to his own feet. His foot slipped, but he managed to grab his wand from the floor. Scorpius grabbed his wand and raised it to Goyle's chest. Goyle swore and hopped on one foot, but stopped when Scorpius raised his wand to him.

"How's this going to work?" He challenged. "We're both first years, and neither of us has had a lesson yet."

"Speak for yourself," someone announced behind the boys.

Goyle turned just in time for the speaker to call out "Flipendo."

The spell hit home, and Goyle flew backwards through the air. Scorpius dropped to one knee as Goyle's body sailed over his head and crashed behind him. He looked up, and was relieved and surprised to see Griffin standing with his wand raised.

"Griffin," Scorpius exhaled gratefully and straightened.

"Sheesh," Griffin sighed. "I turn around to ask you something and you've already gone and gotten yourself into trouble."

Scorpius tucked his wand into his belt shyly and looked away. If it wasn't his cousin, then it was one of the Flint twins always having to swoop in and save him. Why was it he always had to be saved?

He wouldn't for much longer, Scorpius promised himself. Now that he was at school where he could learn he would get stronger. One day he would be strong enough that he could protect himself, and everyone he cared about. He would be strong enough to clear the Malfoy name, and Slytherin's.

"What were you going to ask me?" Scorpius reminded his cousin, figuring he owed it to him.

"Oh yeah," Griffin remembered and straightened, tucking his wand back inside his robe. "The witch that beat my classmates, was she really an Arclight?"

"Have you heard of an Arclight before?" Scorpius asked, surprised by how serious Griffin's voice had suddenly become.

"A rumor among the vampires," Griffin whispered. "All I heard was that they're too powerful to be natural, and it said that their power comes from their cursed blood."

"C-cursed blood?" Scorpius repeated.

"I don't know the details," Griffin muttered and looked towards the entrance to the Dungeon where Petal was, "but they experimented with magic too much. The Arclight family looks human, but they're not anymore. The vampires call them inhuman."

Scorpius gulped, and remembered seeing Petal's smile as she dodged the spell and began to cast _crucio_ as if it was instinctive.

"How do you know a vampire rumor?" Scorpius asked softly, trying to comprehend the implications of what his cousin had just said.

Griffin blushed a little and scratched his cheek absentmindedly. "You know that girl Regan that comes by the Lestrange place now and then?"

"The yellow-eyed witch you like?" Scorpius blinked.

Griffin gave a start at his cousin's blunt words, and looked away, clearly embarrassed.

"She's not a witch," he corrected and ran his fingers through his long hair. "Well, Regan's a Dhampir. She heard about the Arclights from her father and told me."

"Dhampir?" Scorpius gave another start, distracted briefly from Petal, "a vampire half-blood?"

Griffin nodded. "Vampires refuse to drink Arclight blood."

Vampires weren't especially fussy about the blood they drank, so Scorpius was surprised by his cousin's words. The Arclights had cursed blood that no vampire would touch. Exactly what were they? Were they inhuman as the vampire had dubbed them? How terrifying.

"I don't know about being inhuman," Scorpius lowered his head, "but she is registered under the name Arclight."

"I see," Griffin said softly, thinking this was worth telling Regan about.

He nodded that it was all right for Scorpius to go. Scorpius wasn't used to seeing Griffin look so serious, and he somewhat hesitantly turned and started heading towards the library where he assumed Luke would be. Perhaps Luke could use the information about the vampires and find something else out. Or was this the third thing about the Arclights that he couldn't remember, that the Arclights were inhuman with cursed blood?

* * *

Petal Arclight sighed as she closed the door to the girl's dormitory behind her. There were only four first-year girls this year, and only Girffin Lestrange's younger sister, Marcelle, was in there. Marcelle looked up at Petal when she closed the door.

"Did you get the boys to be quiet?" She asked and rubbed an eye with the back of her hand.

"Yes," Petal replied and climbed back into her bed beside Marcelle Lestrange.

"Did you really have to duel them?" Marcelle asked and lay back down.

"They didn't give me much of a choice," Petal sighed.

"Boys," Marcelle muttered.

Something green flashed in the air near Petal, and a small fairy about three inches long sat down on Petal's nightstand. It was themed green with short wavy-black emerald hair, pointed ears, fair white skin, and pure black eyes lacking a pupil or sclera. Like most fairies, she had transparent bug-like wings and was barefoot with a sleeveless dress made of what looked like flower petals that came down to her knees.

"Quiet Em," Petal told her fairy when Em started buzzing like a bumblebee.

Petal wished that Em had stayed behind at her family's villa instead of sneaking into her carry-on bag. She hadn't even realized that Em was with her until the train had already left. Em had even gotten hungry on the train trip over and made Petal ask the witch with the trolley if she had food that didn't include sugar since she knew it was a bad idea to give fairies food that was high in sugar content. Since fairies weren't allowed as pets, Petal had needed to keep her hidden and steal food from her meals to give to her later.

Like all fairies, Em had a weak but unique brand of magic. Possibly because of the fact that Petal had fed Em her blood before and the unique properties of her family's blood, Em had developed an ability to sense trouble before it happened. As of yet, it had not come in handy and Petal was more of an annoyance then an asset.

Petal wished that her family hadn't complied with the Ministry of Magic's wishes. Her family had remained a secret to most humans and mere legend to non-humans, but thanks to events five years ago, their presence had been revealed. Now she was at this mute school as a peace offering, and with others her age despite having begun her training with magic and her wand several years ago.

On top of that, she was told she couldn't use her curses. Even her most powerful curse, Avada Kedavra, was banned as long as she was among the mutes. Not being able to her curses was annoying. The best she could do in a duel was stun her opponent and then manually break their neck, or something along those lines.

Being here was such a pain.

* * *

 **I hope i don't have to tell you what curse Avada Kedavra is, but i will tell you that it is a standard curse among her family. Think of the Arclights as having similar skills as a Death Eater, but unlike a Death Eater they don't have a concept that the curses they are using are wrong. Their attitude will be explained in more detail as time passes.**

 **Power and arrogance is a very bad combination, and no the Arclights are not god-level OP perfect before you get that idea. They have flaws, especially as young of an Arclight as Petal. She's just doesn't see why she's being forced to be near such inferior "mutes." Mutes will be explained later to.**

 **Poor Scorpius on top of that...**


	5. A Harmless Prank

Two weeks had passed since Petal's impromptu duel in the Slytherin commons. Everyone was giving her a wide berth and that seemed to suit her just fine. Petal had obviously mastered Defence against the Dark Arts already although she severely lacked in charms and transfiguration. Her potions and herbology had to be learned almost from scratch like any other student. History of Magic was proving to be her lowest grade since her family's isolation meant she didn't know basic history other students did, and she really didn't care about the mute's history.

Luke Flint actually had the highest marks among the Slytherin first-years, and was tied with the Gryffindor Rose Weasley for the highest grades among the first-years. Jacob had fair grades, but suffered in Astronomy. He complained that there were too many stars in the sky for him to keep them all straight.

Scorpius wasn't doing as well as the twins. He was in the top 20% of the first-years, but was behind on his sleep. The nightmare of his father using the killing curse on his mother and then him kept coming back, and it kept waking him up.

Goyle and Selwyn were still giving Scorpius trouble where they could, and most of the first-years besides the twins were keeping their distance from him. Since his family were blood-traitors twice he wasn't surprised, and thought it might be better. This way he had more time to study and improve his grades. The sooner his grades improved the sooner he could advance in lessons and become stronger.

As if his day was not busy enough, he now had extra lesson with a broomstick. Scorpius figured he wouldn't have much trouble with this since he already knew how to fly a broomstick, so the class was an easy one that was just a review to make sure his techniques were correct.

Slytherin's lessons with Madam Rolanda Hooch were taught with the Gryffindor first years like with most of the other classes. Why were Slytherin and Gryffindor, the two Houses who hated each other the most, paired together? Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were paired together and they got along fine, but why was Slytherin always stuck with Gryffindor?

Eventually the time for flying lessons came, and Scorpius trooped down to the training grounds with the other first-years. The twins fell in step to either side of him as they tended to do, and the presence of his friends helped him relax. Luke was walking calmly like Scorpius, but Jacob was almost bouncing on his toes in excitement to be back on a broomstick.

"You shouldn't get too excited," Luke told Jacob flatly. "The school's brooms vibrate if you fly too high and pull to the left."

"It'll do for this year." Jacob dismissed his brother and turned around so he was walking on front of his friends backwards without looking to see what was in his path. "Next year I'll bring mine from home and I'll be on the Quidditch team. Slytherin's current seeker is in his seventh year, so next year he's gone, and they'll need a new seeker to take his place. Second-years can have broomsticks, so I'll be the new seeker."

Jacob was walking backwards, begging for something to happen to him and something did. As they were walking near the Herbology greenhouses on their way to the field, his heel kicked a stone in the ground and tripped him up. Luke and Scorpius both tried to grab him as he fell back, but both of them missed and he crashed into a Gryffindor first year.

The Gryffindor and Jacob landed in a heap with the Gryffindor on the bottom flat on his stomach. Scorpius winced, and Luke ran over to his twin to help him stand up. The first year Jacob had taken out accidently was that Potter boy, and the Weasley girl and several other Gryffindor's came to his aid.

"Idiot," Luke snapped at Jacob as Jacob dusted off his black cloak.

"Oh I fell, so what?" Jacob grumbled. "No harm done."

"Hey!" One of the Gryffindors called out to Jacob. "What do you think you're doing!?"

Jacob looked back at the Gryffindor who had shouted. It was one of the ones who was helping Albus up. They seemed quite protective of the Potter, but that didn't surprise the Slytherin students that were present.

"Tripping over my feet," Jacob answered tartly. "It happens all the time."

"Trust me," Luke muttered. "Come on, we're going to be late for class."

"Where do you think you're going?" The Gryffindor demanded. "You haven't apologized to him."

"Why would I do that?" Jacob asked innocently.

He put his right hand on his belt where his wand was hidden, and Luke saw the move warily. Scorpius sighed quietly. Was this really going to end with spells flying? Everyone here had only had two weeks of lessons, and yet they still thought they were capable of a duel?

Scorpius remembered Petal defeating the older students a few weeks ago, and looked around for her. If things did come to a duel then Petal would be able to straighten this out fairly quickly. Although he looked, Scorpius couldn't see her distinct silver hair anywhere. She wasn't with the class? That was weird.

Things suddenly became dangerous when Scorpius heard a few surprised noises and saw Jacob and the Gryffindor had their wands pointed at each other. Luke instinctively drew his to help out his brother, and several more Gryffindor's drew theirs as well. Scorpius looked on, unsure what to do as most of the First-Years were now pointing their wands at each other. If things got any worse than there wouldn't be a duel – there'd be a war.

"Conner, it's alright," Albus Potter intervened.

He reached up and lowered the wand of the Gryffindor who had challenged Jacob. Albus didn't want to reenact the Battle of Hogwarts. The other students were more cautious of lowering their wands now that they had raised them, and a sharp whistle overhead made everyone look up.

Scorpius gulped when he saw Madame Hooch sitting overhead on a broomstick. She let the whistle drop and flew lower so she was hovering between the two parties of first years.

"Conner Finnigan, Jacob Flint!" Hooch snapped at the two students who had first raised their wands. "Ten points from both of your houses!"

Jacob and Conner both started to complain about it, but shut up at Hooch's strict glare.

"I will not have the Battle of Hogwarts be reenacted by first years," Hooch dismissed. "Nor will I allow it when you are supposed to be walking to class. Get to the training field now, _everyone_."

After that, wands were lowered and put out of sight. Hooch gave them another strict look and then flew ahead of them to where the broomsticks were laid out. She waited for them there, hovering high enough that she could still see them.

The first-years started to walk to the broomsticks again, the two houses keeping well away from each other. Luke grabbed Jacob's arm when his twin didn't stop glaring at the Finningan boy and forcibly dragged him until Jacob started walking on his own.

"Ten points," Jacob grumbled to himself. "As if we weren't short enough already."

"It's your fault for almost starting a war," Luke promised him.

"That Gryffindor raised his wand first," Jacob snapped, "you saw him! What did you expect me to do, leave myself defenseless against that Gryffindor?"

"Maybe if you had then we wouldn't have lost the points," Luke hissed.

"Where's Petal?" Scorpius asked, interrupting the twins as he kept looking around. "I don't see her."

The twins temporarily stopped their argument and looked for her as well. Rumors of the vampires calling her family inhuman cursed-bloods had spread by now, so everyone had kept their distance. Petal was arrogant and well-trained, but she wasn't present.

"I don't know," Luke said honestly. "If she had been there though it would have been a very short battle for the Gryffindors."

"That's why I was looking for her," Scorpius agreed, "but she's not here."

"Great," Jacob muttered. "If she skips class then I bet we'll lose even more points."

"Probably," Erebus Carrow muttered as he walked alongside the other three. "Hooch is in a pretty bad mood."

"Stow it Carrow," Jacob snapped and shoved his hands into his pants pockets.

"Let's just get to the broomsticks," Luke advised, "and hope Petal shows up or else Hooch doesn't notice she's gone."

"She'll notice," Erebus promised sadly. "My cousin Jen told me nothing gets past her."

"Lucky us," Jacob grumbled.

Scorpius didn't partake in their bickering, but agreed with them silently. This was a bad day for Slytherin, and Petal's absence was not helping matters. Where was she?

* * *

"Are you sure we're not going to get in trouble James?"

James Sirius Potter gave his temporary partner a confident smile. "I'm sure Stefan. We'll be fine. This'll just scare the Slyhterin's a little."

Stefan Hooper gave James a dubious look, and the other Gryffindor third-year with them elbowed Stefan.

"Lighten up," he told Stefan in a scolding tone. "This is going to be fun."

"Hearing that from you doesn't exactly calm me down," Stefan muttered.

"He has a point Dustin," James pointed out with a shrug.

"This was your idea," Dustin Nolton accused James. "If Stefan should be untrusting then it should be of you."

"But this is such a simple plan," James promised with a smile. "Hagrid teachers our Care of Magical Creatures class, and yesterday he showed us his newest pet. We'll just tweak the lock on its cage before the other students get here. When Hagrid lets the Slytherins see it, it'll free itself."

"Are you sure we won't hurt them?" Stefan repeated. "The Runespoor is Rank 4 beast, and I don't want to get expelled."

"It'll be fine," James assured his friend. "The Runespoor is a snake, just like the Slytherin's house crest and it's going to scare them out of their robes. Won't that be ironic?"

He laughed to himself quietly and although Dustin smiled, Stefan still didn't look convinced. The three quieted anyway when they approached the field near the woods where Hagrid taught his class. Their target was still asleep in his cage, all three heads lowered. James darted forward silently and drew his wand to the lock on the cage.

Dustin and Stefan kept watch while James worked. He was careful not to wake the sleeping serpent and managed the mischief without any trouble. From here, the three could hear the Slytherin and Gryffindor third years approaching with Hagrid. James snuck away from the cage and back to his friends, hiding his wand.

By the time the other students came, James and his friends are loafing about waiting for them. Some of the Gryffindor students glanced at James and he smiled slightly as if to greet them. They returned the smile. Unbeknownst to Hagrid and the Slytherin students, the smile passed between them was James saying that he'd manage to alter the lock. James and his friends may have been the one to alter the lock, but really all of Gryffindor knew about the plan to scare Slytherin with the Runespoor.

Hagrid had the students take out their books and turn to the Runespoor's page. After making sure to stroke the spines of their books the students did so. While the students turned to the correct page, Hagrid tapped on the Runespoor's cage gently to wake it up. There was a rustle as the heap of black and orange scales moved and the three-headed Runespoor lifted its heads to look at the students.

It was a larger Runespoor almost eight feet long, and it looked at the students curiously. The right head hissed at the students and opened its jaws to reveal long dagger-like fangs. Stefan's brown eyes widened when he saw the almost four-inch long fangs and he gave Dustin and James a worried look. Dustin looked at James to, but James didn't seem perturbed.

Hagrid realized he had left his wand in his hut, and invited the students to go up and look at the Runespoor while he went to fetch it. The Gryffindor students knew what James had done, so they didn't move. This made the Slytherin students think they were scared, so a few of them set their books down on the leafy floor and walked over to the cage bravely while Hagrid walked away.

Jocaste Carrow, commonly called Jen because she thought her full name was too long, was the first Slytherin that knelt in front of the cage, and she looked at the Runespoor curiously. Even though there was a charm that prevented the Runespoor from sticking its heads between the bars, she still didn't like the size of the fangs. James stealthily tapped his wand against his leg as he looked over the rim of his book at the lock on the cage and whispered the charm to make the lock shatter.

Carrow jumped back when the lock broke, and fell on back ungracefully. She looked up just in time for the Runespoor's right head to nudge the door open and for it to stand over Carrow. Terror painted her features, but she didn't move.

James smiled at how scared she looked, and the other Gryfindor students looked equally smug. The Slytherin students were quite a bit more terrified, and a few of them recognized Gryffindor's smiles. Anger made them raised their wands, and the Gryffindor students did the same.

A battle wasn't part of the plan, but James figured he could be flexible as he set his book to one side so he could aim with his wand. This might be even better. He wasn't expecting anything more to happen with the Runespoor, and the raised wands distracted the other students so no one was watching Carrow and the Runespoor.

Carrow had had her wand in her hand when the Runespoor had come out and she now snapped it up, a charm on her lips to knock the snake back. She never got a chance to say the charm. The sheer speed of the Runespoor made James jump and suddenly its right head had sunk its fangs into Carrow's raised wrist.

Footsteps ran lightly over the leaf-strewn floor of the forest as a Hogwarts student ran almost silently towards the field where Hagrid taught, wand in hand.

Carrow screamed as the fangs sank right though her wrist, long enough that they came out of the other side of her wrist and it clamped its jaw shut. Her wand slipped from her fingers and the Runespoor dragged her onto her side with astounding strength. The students jumped back and wands turned on the Runespoor, but the Runespoor noticed it was being targeted so it dragged Carrow closer to itself, using her as a shield so the students didn't have a clear shot with a spell. No one was sure what to do, but a voice suddenly cut through the standoff.

"Crucio!" The first-year student running across the floor shouted as she made straight for the Runespoor and its hostage.

Red lightning flashed from her wand and hit both Carrow and the Runespoor. The caster only kept the curse up for a few seconds before stopping it and releasing both of them. Stunned by the pain of the Unforgivable Curse, the Runespoor released Carrow's wrist and slithered back, all three heads dizzy.

The student's turned to see who had just used an _Unforgivable Curse_ and saw a young silver-haired witch running their way. There was a flash of green near her and the third-years flinched back, expecting another curse to go flying over their heads. James fell off of the rock he had been sitting on as the witch ran past him to the Runespoor. Fearlessly she kicked the stunned Runespoor at the place where its three heads joined to its body and knocked it aside, placing herself between Carrow and the Runespoor.

Carrow's breathing was ragged from the effects of the Crucio curse, and the witch gave her a disdainful look.

"Weak," she muttered to her.

The green bolt that had flown over the students hovered over Carrow's limp form and looked at the bite makrs on her right arm. It was a fairy, but the fairy's presence with the witch was not the least of the surprises that awaited the students. As the Runespoor shook off the effects of the Curse it stood back up, raising its upper body three feet off the ground. Blood dripped from the muzzle of the right head, and it opened its jaws to hiss at the witch who had cursed him.

The witch hissed right back, and spoke in a series of hiss like sounds. Her words made the Runespoor lean back in surprise, and the witch raised her wand to accent her point. That was the time when Hagrid finally came running back over and looked at the carnage of the Runespoor.

The witch held out a hand to Hagrid before he could cast, and spoke to the snake again in a hiss like voice.

"Parselmouth," James whispered as he sat up. "She's a Parselmouth."

There was a tense standoff between the Parselmouth witch and the Runespoor for a few seconds, but it was the Runespoor who closed its jaws and lowered its head back to the ground. The witch nodded at it and turned her back on the Runespoor to kneel by Carrow.

"I've told it to behave itself," the witch told Hagrid without looking up from the wound. "If it doesn't I'll hit it with Crucio again, so it won't bite. Do you have the antidote for Runespoor venom with you? This girl needs a dose of it and quickly."

"Crucio," Hagrid repeated in surprise, wondering just what he had missed.

"My name is Petal Arclight," the Parselmouth introduced. "I'm with the Slytherin first years. My fairy told me there was going to be trouble so I left the rest of my class and came here. It's lucky that I did. Now, do you have the antidote? Ruenspoor venom kills quickly."

"It's venomous," James said stupidly.

Petal Arclight turned to face him, and James flinched back at how cold her eyes were. They looked more like carved crystal then actual eyes, and the pupils were inhumanly slitted like a cat's.

"Yes it is, deadly so." Petal promised him. "Next time you purposefully release one from its cage you might consider not doing so."

Hagrid turned to face James, and James lowered his head, features ringing with surprise still. He was caught, and astounded by what had just occurred. For sure, Hagrid would deal with James, but right now, he knelt and picked up Carrow so he could carry her back to his hut where the antidote was.

"Dismissed," he told the students. "James, you stay put."

The Slytherin students bristled at the Gryffindor's, and it was only when Petal cleared her throat did the two groups leave. James stayed where he was sitting, and looked at his Care of Magical Creatures textbook that sat in the leaves next to him. It was poisonous?

Petal hissed a bit more with the Runespoor, and it hissed back at her. After a short conversation, the Runespoor slithered over to her and laid down next to her. She stroked him and the Runespoor relaxed. James could not relax though, and a few minutes later Madame Pomfrey Apparated to the sight and was helping look at Carrow while Headmistress McGonagall herself appeared in front of James Potter.

James looked up at Hogwarts's Headmistress and then down again. He was in so much trouble.

* * *

 **This time Petal didn't stop herself from using Crucio, although she's probably going to get in trouble for it. Calling her and the Arclight family Dark Wizards might not be right, but it's far from wrong.**

 **James has been described as similar to the Weasley twins in his wish to cause mischief although i don't think Fred and George would do something so stupid. I guess he thought because the Runespoor was allowed to be shown to the students that it wasn't overly deadly. McGonagall is going to kill him.**


	6. Explanation

James Sirius Potter found himself in Headmistress McGonagall office not more than ten minutes later with Petal Arclight. Petal had talked the Runespoor into returning to its cage, and Carrow was now in the hospital. The green fairy who had noticed the trouble was sitting on Petal's right shoulder.

There was a crack and McGonagall Apparated into the room near them. James jumped at the noise, but Petal didn't. McGonagall looked over them, and James hung his head. She silently walked over at sat at her desk across from the students.

"I would like an explanation," McGonagall said in a deadly serious voice, "now."

"I'm sorry," James said softly.

McGonagall looked at him, and James reluctantly continued. "I didn't know it was poisonous. I just wanted to scare the Slytherins. It's a snake and their crest is a snake so I thought it would be funny to have them scared by it."

"So you freed a Rank 4 Beast from its cage in the hopes that it would attack one of your fellow students?" McGonagall said tartly. "Miss. Carrow is stable, but it will be several days before she will be able to leave her bed. I fail to see the humor, Mr. Potter."

James didn't say anything else, and McGonagall turned to Petal.

"Miss. Arclight," McGonagall addressed. "I also do not see the need for you to use an Unforgivable Curse on one of your fellow house members."

"I didn't have a choice," Petal shrugged. "Once the right head of a Runespoor gets ahold of its prey the only way to get it to let go besides killing it is stunning it. It's immune to Stupefy charms and others of the like so the only sure way to get it to release its prey is with Crucio. Carrow was too close to the Runespoor to not be tangled in the curse. Had I not done that, then the Runespoor would not have let go."

"You are certain of this?" McGonagall said in an unconvinced voice.

Sheesh these mutes were so stupid. They really didn't know anything, and they were weak to. Only a few seconds of crucio and that Carrow third-year had fainted. Petal calmly pushed up the sleeve of her right arm rather than voice her thoughts and showed McGonagall a bite mark on her arm just above her elbow.

"As I'm sure you're aware Headmisstress, there are Runespoor near my family's villa just like there are fairies like mine." Petal repeated what she knew was already known in a tired voice. When the one who attacked me gave me this scar I also had to use crucio, and it did release me."

McGonagall didn't interrupt, so Petal continued.

"If you had enough time then I'm certain you could have managed to pry its jaws free from Carrow, but considering how quickly Runespoor venom kills, time is a luxury the victim does not have." Petal let her sleeve fall back over her arm. "Had the Runespoor not gotten out of its cage and attacked Carrow then I would not have needed to use the Cruciatus Curse to get it to release her."

If Carrow hadn't been so weak and slow then she wouldn't have been bit in the first place, Petal thought to herself.

McGonagall thought Petal's argument over silently. Details on the Arclights were always hard to come by, but the Runespoor scar made it obvious Petal had dealt with one before. A Runespoor's right head was also infamous for not releasing their prey until death, and they _were_ immune to many disabling spells such as Stupefy. Using an Unforgivable Curse to get it to release its prey was not an option McGonagall had heard of or lightly use herself, but Petal's quick thinking had saved Carrow and the Runespoor.

"How did you know the attack was going to happen?" McGonagall asked in a less anger-ridden tone.

"My fairy, Em," Petal introduced.

The green fairy sitting on her should hopped off and hovered in the air between Petal and McGonagall. It bowed at McGonagall.

"Fairies have a weak but unique brand of magic," Petal explained. "Em can sense trouble before it actually happens, and she was right this time."

Technically Em's ability to sense trouble was not inherit, and a result of Petal's blood, but a mute like this Headmistress didn't need to know about that. McGonagall looked over the green themed fairy, but it seemed like she was going to accept Petal's slightly misspoken words, naïve.

"I know fairies are not among the list of pets we're allowed to bring," Petal assured McGonagall. "She snuck onto my carry-on bag however, and I didn't know she was there until after the train to Hogwarts had already left the station."

"I see," McGonagall said after a moment of quiet contemplation.

McGonagall had been warned beforehand that there would be a member of the reclusive Arclight family enrolled, and was surprised that some of the rumors that had appeared about her family since her enrollment seemed to be accurate. They were casual users of the Dark Arts, and Petal didn't seem the least bit abashed about using one on her classmate. In fact, she seemed both bored and annoyed by having to be brought before McGonagall over something as insignificant as using the torture curse. They were an arrogant family, sure in their power, just as the Vampires' rumors said.

"Miss. Arclight," McGonagall addressed after thinking about her words. "I do not know what your family thinks about the usage of Unforgivable Curses but you are not to use them on this campus again. Continued usage, especially if you use the killing curse, will likely end with you in Azkaban and I wish to prevent that."

"I know I shouldn't use my curses," Petal sighed and rolled her eyes, "but the Runespoor hardly gave me a choice."

McGonagall agreed that she hadn't, "none the less. No points will be deducted from your house for your use of Crucio this time, but I cannot award you any points for it usage. I will speak to you later, but for now you are dismissed back to your classes."

Petal stood and bowed in a very old-fashioned way before taking her leave. McGonagall didn't say another word until Petal and her fairy were gone. Once they were she turned to James.

"Mr. Potter," she said in a scything tone. "I am not as sure where to being with you other than the sheer stupidity of this action is worthy of expulsion."

James visibly cringed. "I know Ma'am."

"Then what possessed you to free a Rank 4 beast and turn it loose on your classmates?" McGonagall demanded. "Had Miss. Arclight not been present and acting so swiftly then it is very likely the delay in freeing her form the Runespoor would have killed Miss. Carrow."

"Killed," James whispered.

"Yes, killed," McGonagall repeated. "Although I do not approve of her methods, Miss. Arclight is the only reason no one was killed. Not only did you endanger the lives of all the students present, you also endangered this entire school. Can you imagine what could have happened if that Runespoor managed to get into the _castle_? I doubt Miss. Carrow would have been the only student to be killed in that scenario."

James tensed, but couldn't raise his eyes. He'd never thought about what would happen if the Runespoor had gotten away, and had just assumed Hagrid would keep it under control.

"Professor Hagrid will also have to face repercussions for this _prank_ of yours," McGonagall assured James.

"Huh?" James looked up now. "But it wans't his fault! He didn't know what we were going to do!"

"That does not excuse the fact that the protections placed around the Runespoor were weak enough that you could free it," McGonagall assured. "Miss. Carrow's mother will want someone to be punished for this incident I can assure you."

James looked back down with a sad hmm noise. He hadn't wanted to get Hagrid in trouble.

"Unless I am quite mistaken," McGonagall continued, "you also said what ' _we were going to do_.' The Slytherin third years said it seemed like Gryffindor knew the Runespoor would be freed, and that was why they drew their wands on you. How many other Gryffindor students knew about this?"

"Um…" James wasn't exactly sure how to respond to that.

"Mr. Potter," McGonagall said at his hesitance. "Considering the circumstances of what has just occurred, if you do not tell me then I believe I will be given permission to use truth potion or charms to compel you to respond. Do not make me ask for that."

"Two of the others were keeping watch while I altered its lock," James admitted.

"How many of the Gryffindor third-years knew?" McGonagall repeated.

"Um," James said again and then spoke quietly, "all of them."

McGonagall stared at him, and James shrugged innocently. Then he hung his head again under the wilting glare of the Headmistress.

"These past few years I have learned that you and your friend Dustin Nolton make a team similar to George and Fred Weasley," McGonagall sighed. "The actions of the Weasley twins may have seemed sporadic, but they would never have done something as dangerous as this."

James didn't respond. Now they were all in trouble, and he well knew it.

In the end, Headmistress McGonagall ended up deducting 50 points each from Gryffindor for James Potter, Dustin Nolton, and Stefan Hooper for actively participating in the Runespoor's release. Another 10 points were deducted from all 10 members of Gryffindor's third year class for their knowledge of the prank and their decision to not do anything. Gryffindor lost a total of 250 points for James's prank, and at the time they didn't even have 100 points. It was going to take some time for them to get their point total out of the negative before they could think about gathering more. James's prank had likely just cost Gryffindor the House Cup and the Slytherin students knew it.

Erebus informed his older cousin Jen of as much when he went to see her in the Infirmary and Jen thought it served Gryffindor right. While the cousins were talking, they and Madame Pomfrey were surprised to realize that they had visitors. It was the eight of the other nine first years, and the rest of the third years. In addition to them, the rest of the Slytherins who did not have classes came so almost all 70 students of the Slytherin house were in the Infirmary.

Madame Pomfrey was surprised, but she didn't make an attempt to remove them. The Slytherin students normally argued with each other as much as the other houses, but for the past 19 years they had started to slowly cooperate with each other. With all the other houses and even the staff against them to some degree they had begun to form some sort of loyalty to each other as a house. It was hard to believe something else since most of the house was here to see Jen Carrow.

Jen was also surprised to see that so many of the house was here, but she was happy at the same time. The crowd of Slytherin students parted when the last Slytherin first year appeared, and most everyone looked up at Petal Arclight's entrance. Since Petal's fairy had been revealed, it was now sitting on her shoulder looking at the group of students.

Petal's fame had spread since the incident with the Runespoor a few hours ago, and her casual use of the Unforgivable Curse to solve the problem. She glanced at the students and they let her walk right up to Jen, just as well, the mutes should stand aside for an Arclight to pass.

Griffin Lestrange watched her walk up to Jen with a warier look. He had told Regan about the presence of an Arclight on campus, and Regan's return letter was a warning to stay away from her for his own sake. According to Regan and her vampire father, the Arclights had no concept of "Dark," "Illegal," or "Unforgivable" when it came to magic because they thought themselves above such categorization. What spooked Griffin was that the word Unforgivable had been capitalized, like how the Unforgivable Curses were.

"How are you doing?" Petal asked Jen.

Jen nodded weakly, being able to sit up only with the aid of pillows. "Better, but I'm going to miss classes for the next few days. I heard it's your fairy I have to thank for my survival."

Em hopped off of Petal's shoulder when she was mentioned and hovered in midair. Petal glanced at her fairy, used to Em's vanity. She supposed since it was already known it was all right for her to reveal Em's extra ability if not how she gained it.

"Em here has a knack for sniffing out trouble, so to speak," Petal explained calmly.

"Why did you use Crucio?" One of Jen's third-year classmates asked Petal curiously. "Couldn't you have used some other spell to stun the Runespoor to let go?"

Petal wasn't sure who had spoken but it didn't matter much. "Runespoor are immune to most spells. Crucio is the only one strong enough to affect them. It's the quickest way to get the right head to release its catch, and the only sure way for the prey to survive considering how quickly the venom kills."

Jen was upset at being used as a target for the Torture Curse, but when it was either that or being killed she didn't have a right to complain. Petal could simply have not used the spell and let Jen die.

"How do you how to deal with Runespoor so well?" Another third-year asked. "It looked like you knew what you were doing."

Just as she had done with McGonagall, Petal pushed up the sleeve of her arm to show the scar from a right head Runespoor bite. Several people leaned in to look at the scar better.

"There are Runespoor near my family's villa," Petal admitted, repeating what she had already said. "They will obey a Parselmouth, but that only works if they give you a chance to talk to them before they strike."

"Runespoor are too aggressive to be near a settlement though," a fifth year challenged. "They mostly live in either unplottable forests or special reserves."

Petal didn't answer, knowing that the location of her family's villa was supposed to stay a secret. Even though she had mentioned it before because she figured she needed to say something, she was loathe to tell mere mutes about her family. Maybe she should give them a little information though, after all, one of the reasons she was here was to scout for her family. Gaining information would be easier if the students trusted her, and so logically, the easiest way to do that was to give them information herself. As long as it wasn't too detailed, she supposed it would be all right.

"That's correct," Petal agreed to the mention of unplottable.

Her answer only confused the gathered Slytherin students more.

"I thought you said the Selkies near your villa taught you how to swim?" Scorpius asked softly, surprising himself that he was speaking up in such a large crowd.

The fact that he was speaking up drew a few curious looks, and Scorpius looked back down again to avoid the sudden scrutiny.

"They did," Petal remarked. "Many magical creatures like us, but others despise my family."

Petal glanced at Griffin as she spoke, and Griffin was startled by the sure amusement in her gaze. Did she know he was in contact with a vampire? Her eyes said yes, and they said that she didn't care because she didn't feel the least bit threatened by possible vampire interference.

"All right," someone scolded, "break it up. If you crowd any closer to her then she won't be able to breathe."

Petal looked away from Griffin to the new mute who had showed herself, a seventh-year witch with a Perfect's badge. Scorpius noticed her look away from Griffin, and he wondered why she had been watching him. Had he missed something? Maybe he should look up instead of at his shoes more often.

"Kalaya Fay," the Perfect introduced to Petal. "I think I speak for everyone here when I ask, where do you live?"

Petal looked around at her housemates, and then sighed deeply as if she were reluctant despite already making up her mind to tell them. As long as they didn't find out the secret behind the Arclight's inhuman blood she could tell them a few vague details about the villa.

"I guess I have to if I want any peace," Petal admitted reluctantly, voice smooth as silk. "I live within the bounds of the Arclight Reserve. There are many magical creatures there, from Selkies and Runespoor to fairies and griffins. There's even a Lethifold in the forests, and a Chimera. The Chimera, Chi we call him, is the Alpha creature there. Even the Lethifold fears him, though it likes trying to ambush me."

"The Reserve!" Luke shouted far louder than he meant.

Many of the Slytherin students turned to face him, and Jacob rolled his eyes at his brother's outburst.

Luke scuffed his foot when he realized everyone was staring at him. "When I was speaking about the Arclights I knew I was forgetting something. It's that their family, all of them, lives on their own island and that island is a reserve for all sorts of Rank 5 beasts."

"That's right," Petal nodded. "We've stayed out of the Wizarding Wars and we usually don't leave the island, so we're rarely seen and not much is known about us. I'm actually surprised that you found information on our family."

Very surprised, Petal thought to herself. Her family had taken care to wipe the history books of any mention of their existence, yet apparently, they had missed a book. She should alert her family that some knowledge of them might yet remain.

"So you grew up around a Lethifold and a chimera," a second year student said in stunned surprise.

"Technically there was a dragon that lived on our reserve when I was younger," Petal corrected. "When the Chimera came, it killed the dragon and took over as the Reserve's Alpha."

"What type of dragon?" One Slytherin seventh year asked.

"I don't remember it too well, but I think it was a Norweign Ridgeback," Petal shook her head. "I have no idea how it got to where the Reserve."

"How did the Chimera kill a dragon as deadly as that?" Jacob Flint voiced the question this time.

"Chi is one of the few Chimera with dragon wings," Petal explained. "Most Chimera only have a dragon's tail, but Chi's got wings to."

One of the other first-year girls with an interest in magical creatures, Alyx Rowle, whistled softly. "That's very rare."

Petal nodded. "Sometimes poachers try and come to the reserve, but not very often. Some come, but none leave. Chi's protective and it isn't easy to kill a chimera, among other reasons."

None leave, Griffin thought. It wasn't just because of the Chimera was it then. Was it because the Arclights used the killing curse and wiped the poachers out?

"Is that why you know such advanced spells?" Another fourth-year besides Griffin asked.

Petal couldn't believe how curious they were, but mutes wanted to know about her family for their power. That was the only reason.

"My wand was made for me on the reserve three years ago," Petal explained, knowing it would be easy for someone to watch her wandwork and figure this was her fourth year training.

"This is your fourth year then," one of the fourth-years Petal had defeated during her impromptu duel a few weeks ago muttered. "That means you're on our level."

Petal blinked, managing not to react any more to the mute's foolish statement. On his level? That was funny. She had been taught that a mute couldn't compare to an Arclight, and what she had seen so far enforced that.

"You could say that," Petal lied with a shrug.

"Do all the Runespoor on your Reserve listen to you?" Scorpius asked softly, finally managing to speak again.

"For the most part," Petal shrugged.

She clenched the hand where the scars from a Runespoor bite were, and the action made the Slytherin's quiet and stop prying, as she knew it would. It was lucky that they stopped questioning her before they got on the subject of Parseltongue and figured out that being able to speak Parselmouth was a dominant trait. If they found that out then they might drift closer to the Arclight's important blood.

If that happened then she had been given permission to use the killing curse and eliminate them before news spread. Avada Kedavra, Petal thought to herself as her Slytherin housemates broke off into a multitude of conversation. It was her favorite curse after all, and it had been awhile since she had last used it. As long as no one pried too deeply into the Arclights then they had no need to worry. If they did, then they were dead. It was as simple as that.

* * *

 **...Petal is a little dangerous compared to most wizards. Scorpius and the rest of the Slytherin house better watch their footing or else Petal's going to be using the rest of the Unforgivable Curses on them. You finally have your explanation about Petal's home and a little about her family, but are you sure it was worth knowing?**


	7. Makato

The next few days after the incident with the Runespoor were as normal as could be expected for a wizarding school. James's prank had left Gryffindor with a lot of catching up to do to win the House Cup, and the other houses took advantage of the delay to gain points of their own. Petal spent much of her spare time at Hagrid's speaking with the Runespoor, and it was while she was there one day that Jen Carrow's mother showed up at Hogwarts. Jen was back on her feet at this point, and would be able to sleep in her own bed tonight.

There always seemed to be one or two Slytherin members in Pomfrey's Ward with her, and there were currently two from her Study of Ancient Runes class, although one of them was a muggleborn Ravenclaw student. They had dropped off Jen's homework, and were helping teach her so she could complete the assignment. The cooperative spirit that the Slytherin's had just found was truly astounding and none were more surprised by their new attitude then the Gryffindor students. It seemed that the Slytherin's had finally realized that they were on their own in the school.

Jen was working with both her pureblood classmate and the muggle-born Ravenclaw to get through the assignment in her Runes class, aware that she didn't have the option to be fussy about her tutors for such a difficult course. Otherwise, she never would have bothered with a muggle-born. The three girls had their heads lowered as they talked quietly, and the sudden sound of heels clicking against the tile alerted them that they had a visitor.

Jen's irritated expression as she tried to grasp what she had missed in her class changed to a horrified one when her mother stalked into sight. There was no sign of Madame Pomfrey, so the nurse must have decided that Jen was healed enough for visitors. She wished she wasn't suddenly.

Hestia Carrow now worked in the Ministry of Magic in the office of Improper Use of Magic, and it was believed that she would take over the office as the next minister. Leading one office though was hardly Hestia's goal, and she was hoping to make it all the way up to Minister of Magic. The fact that Hetisa Carrow had left her office to come see her truly stunned Jen and she wished she hadn't come, for things never went well around her.

"Mother?" Jen demanded much louder then she meant, and the two girls with her scooched back so Hestia could see her daughter sitting up in bed.

"Jocaste," Hestia greeted Jen by her full name and clicked over to her daughter. "I heard about that Potter boy's antics. Are you alright?"

"You know about it?" Jen asked in horror, voice cracking slightly.

"Yes," Hestia promised. "Word has spread I assure you."

"And you wouldn't have had anything to do with that, would you?" Jen challenged darkly, not surprised at all that her mother would have something to do with it.

"The incident is in the _Daily Prophet_ ," Hestia said innocently, "haven't you read a copy?"

"The _Daily Prophet_?" Jen did shout this time and stared at her mother. "Why would you get it published? Insane stuff happens all the time at Hogwarts! _This isn't anything special_."

Hestia seemed unaware of her daughter's distress. "Oh yes it is. Imagine a rank 4 beast getting loose in Hogwarts because of a Potter. It certainly is worth reading about."

Jen hung her head, and clenched the sheets in her hands. This was just like her mother to turn the accident with the Runespoor into some publicity stunt to gain support. By flouncing up the actions of a Potter like this her opponents who supported the Potters might lose face, and let her gain the support they lost. Why was everything to her mother about power?

"We haven't gotten today's edition of the _Daily Prophet_ ," the muggleborn Ravenclaw beside Jen said innocently. "We've been helping Jen catch up on the classes she's missing, so we haven't had a chance to ask around for a copy."

"I see," Hestia Carrow said calmly, "and you are?"

Jen's eyes widened when her mother asked that, and even though she had no reason to protect the muggleborn she didn't want her mother to get mad at _her_ for interacting with one.

"She's in my Study of Ancient Runes Class," Jen interrupted, "and she's helping tutor me. I'll be back in classes tomorrow."

Her mother hesitated for a dangerous second and then accepted her daughter's excuse and continued speaking in a tone as smooth and sticky as honey. "Well, don't you worry about this incident Jocaste. I'm going to speak to professor McGonagall next and I'm sure we'll be able to get this sorted out."

"Get what sorted out?" Jen asked in confusion, wishing her mother would call her Jen for once. "Things are already settled. They've been settled. The Runespoor's going to be sent back home to its forest, and Gryffindor's already lost all of its points and then some."

"Points?" Hestia laughed gently at her daughter's innocence and pat her head as if she was a small child, ignoring the fact that Jen swatted her hand away.

"You were almost killed," Hestia assured her daughter, "and there could have been a major disaster here at Hogwarts. It's clear that security around here as gotten quite lax and that professor of yours that was supposed to be teaching you about the Runespoor obviously doesn't take his job seriously."

"Yes there _could_ have been," Jen agreed with her mother impatiently, "but there wasn't. Everything is fine. Don't go making a huge deal out of this like you always do just to get support within the Ministry."

Hestia's sweet manor darkened at Jen's sentence dangerously, but then lightened again after a second. "I cannot let things stand. Once a beast has gained a taste for the flesh of humans then it will likely go back to hunting them. That Runespoor has to be killed, and that's just the start."

"If you want to kill the Runespoor then you're going to have to go through Petal," Jen sighed, "and I don't know how well that would end."

"Petal?" Hestia drew her features together as she thought about it. "She was the girl that got the Runespoor to release you, correct? Honestly, your teacher couldn't even get his snake to let go of you, and a first year had to do it for him. One first year will hardly be a bother, child."

At Jen's persistence, McGonagall had relented not to tell her mother that Petal had used an Unforgivable Curse to get the Runespoor to drop her. Hestia likely believed that Petal had just used a stun spell, and that was for the best. Jen's mother didn't know how casually Petal had used the spell or the fact that she had seemed to be experienced in the use of the torture curse. Her mother had no idea what Petal was capable of, but Jen supposed that her mother needed to be taught her place. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if she met Petal.

"I am going to speak to McGonagall now," Hestia Carrow told her daughter in a voice that was supposed to be comforting, but came off as sickly sweet as it always did. "Don't you worry about a thing. That beast that attacked you will be dead before long."

Jen gave her mother a dubious look, but let her leave. After she did, the students with Jen gave her a curious look.

"Why did you let her walk off like that?" The muggleborn asked stupidly. "Petal's spent the last few days chatting with the Runespoor. I half think she's going to adopt it and you're going to let your mother kill it?"  
"I'm not letting Hestia Carrow do anything," Jen promised with a Slytherin worthy smile. "My mother's going to have to get by Petal before she can get close to the Runespoor, and I don't think that will work out very well for her."

"You want your mother to go up against Arclight?" The Slytherin with Jen asked dubiously.

Jen smiled and nodded, and the Slytherin hummed as she understood. The Ravenclaw was too good-hearted to understand what Jen was up to, and Jen wasn't going to explain herself to a muggleborn.

"Let's finish up these last few questions," Jen told the students with her and pulled her paper back over to her.

Scorpius had left the Flint twins, and now wandered down to Hagrid's cabin where the Runespoor was. He had often wished he was a Parselmouth, and although he was a little jealous to discover Petal was, he wasn't very surprised. Petal was full of surprises, like the fact she lived on a magical creature reserve that had a winged chimera as its Alpha creature. The lattermost fact was still sinking in for him.

He saw the younger Potter, Albus, and the Weasley girl enter Hagrid's cabin to speak with him. Scorpius skirted around the area, having no wish to bother with the half-giant professor or a Potter. It was easy enough for him to find the Runespoor cage just inside the treeline and Petal sitting in front of it. She was hissing with the snake and it was responding. All three heads tried to respond at once, and Petal giggled as their voices canceled each other out so she couldn't understand any of them.

"Hello Scorpius," Petal greeted in English without looking up from the Runespoor.

Scorpius was only so surprised that she knew it was him, what with her fairy sitting on top of the Runespoor cage, so he didn't recoil.

"Hi Petal," he greeted her instead, hoping he wouldn't start stuttering. "You're down here a lot now."

"There's no one else here I can speak to," Petal shrugged and motioned towards the Runespoor.

Scorpius's eyes did widen when she slipped her hand between the bars of the cage and pet the three heads in turn without fear. Not even the right hand tried to bit her, and it looked like it would be purring if it could.

"He's never met anyone else he can speak to either," Petal smiled, "so it's nice for him."

Now Scorpius tensed, "he? Are you saying Runespoor are sentient?"

"Not to the degree that we are," Petal shook her head, "but they are capable of forming thought and words. There are many magical creatures out there like him that are classified as beast because no one can understand they're language."

"I thought Parseltongue only worked with snakes?" Scorpius asked warily and sat down near her.

He took his bag off his shoulder as Petal chuckled to herself in amusement. Scorpius had come because he was curious about the Arclights, but now found something else to learn.

"That's what it is most famous for, and reptiles do think that a human who can speak their language is someone they should honor and obey, but there are many magical creatures out there a Parselmouth can communicate with. Take fairies for example," Petal glanced at the green one sitting on the cage. "Parseltongue is a common language for many. My family can all speak Parseltounge, so we understand this. Most of those who cannot speak it tend to be unaware of the fact."

"So he's semi-sentient," Scorpius said thoughtfully. "Did you say snakes honor Parselmouths?"

Petal nodded and retracted her hand from the cage, leaving the Runespoor to look after it sadly. "That's correct, which is why snakes always listen to us. Other reptiles feel the need to honor Parselmouths as well, if not obey us as snakes do. As a Chimera, Chi is part dragon, and as a part-reptile, he respects Parselmouths. That's why he likes me."

Scorpius swallowed as the implication of what Petal just said sank in. As a part-dragon, the Chimera liked her. What about a real dragon? Could a Parselmouth get one of them to obey them?

"A dragon would be much harder than a Chimera," Petal said nonchalantly just after Scorpius thought it, surprising him. "Dragons are actually fully sentient like a human. Because of this, they have a very strong will of their own and few dragons see the need to listen to or even let one of us live. They don't respect those who cannot fly on their own, and call us human's grounders."

"So they eat you to," Scorpius looked at the Runespoor in the cage as it lowered its head. "I guess that's why I've never heard that a Parselmouth can speak to dragons before."

"They actually like eating us," Petal chuckled quietly. "They don't like the fact that a grounder like us can speak to them. The dragon that used to live on my families reserve never attacked my family because we're too powerful. A family like mine with Parseltongue in its ancestry has learned how to kill dragons in self-defense. Chi's much more reasonable then a dragon, and like Makato, likes the fact that there's someone he can talk to."

"Makato?" Scorpius frowned. "Who's that?"

Petal pointed at the Runespoor. "That's what the Runespoor told me its name was. Like most Runespoor, its name is three syllables, and each head's name is a single syllable. You put the three names together to get its full name."

"A name," Scorpius whispered in awe. "It has its own name."

"I did say it was more than some mindless beast," Petal reminded Scorpius.

She let him look at the Runespoor for a few seconds more before asking somewhat slyly. "What did you want to see me about?"

"Huh?" Scorpius said without glancing away.

"You've been keeping your distance from me," Petal reminded Scorpius and dropped a few leaves from the forest floor into his hair. "Yet now you seek me, so what do you want?"

He had to want something. A mute always wanted something.

Scorpius brushed the leaves out of his hair and looked down. "I wondered if you would tell me more about your villa. It sounds like something out of a storybook, growing up on your own island on a reserve for all sorts of magical beasts. Being the friend of a Chimera."

"You know that you're a wizard, right?" Petal asked Scorpius amusedly.

Scorpius smiled shyly, "yeah. Will you? I mean, unless you don't want to because it is kind of personal."

"I don't mind telling you a little," Petal assured him, amazed that he was so shy.

As long as Scorpius didn't figure out her family's secret then she wouldn't have to kill him.

"What do you want to hear about first?" Petal asked him, turning the way she sat so she faced him. "Chi, the poacher's occasional visits, the sea serpent?"

"Sea serpent?" Scorpius said in a voice loud from surprise.

"I never mentioned her?" Petal asked curiously, "oops."

Scorpius gave her a serious look, and Petal shrugged innocently.

"I guess you want to hear about her first, right?" Petal asked in the same innocent tone.

Scorpius nodded. Petal smiled, but before she could begin her story Em's wings snapped straight out and she started making a series of buzzing noises like a bee. It was obviously a warning of some sort because Petal stood suddenly, wand in her right hand again.

"What is it?" Scorpius asked and quickly scrambled to his feet.

"Trouble," Petal said seriously as Em came over and sat on her shoulder.

Scorpius looked the way she was and saw Hagrid walking down the hill with a woman he had never seen before.

"Who are you?" Petal asked the woman, not raising her wand but not hiding it.

"Hestia Carrow," the woman introduced briskly, "and I am very busy so I suggest you step aside from that creature."

She made a shooing motion at Petal, and Scorpius realized that the Carrow woman was talking about the Runespoor.

"What are you going to do with the Runespoor?" Petal asked her seriously.

"It's going to be taken from school grounds and killed of course," Carrow dismissed Petal. "Now step aside."

"You are not killing Makato," Petal assured the woman and raised her wand to her. "He's mine. If you want to kill him, then I fear you're going to have to get past me first."

The woman hesitated.

"If you dare," Petal added as a challenge to the woman.

Scorpius looked between Petal and the Carrow woman rapidly. Petal's gaze scared him, and the bloodlust that promised she would enjoy fighting made him step back. Then Petal smiled.

* * *

 **I'm a little curious, but is anyone else scared for Hestia Carrow? Petal was practicing the killing curse under her breath not long ago.**

 **Not much is said on Parselmouths besides their ability, and not much is said on how the effect on other magical creatures. It leaves it completely open to the imagination. You'll understand why I am focusing so much on an OC like Petal in the next chapter.**


	8. Avada Kedavra

Hestia Carrow faced off against Petal Arclight, but where she appeared a little flummoxed by the situation Petal looked confident. She had proven already that she was a competent duelist, and willing to use Unforgivable Curses. The Runespoor who had told Petal its name was Makato sat up in his cage, and the three heads looked equally surprised by the duel that might soon occur.

"Step away child," Carrow ordered Petal and drew her own wand.

"I might be younger then you," Petal admitted, "but you're the one acting like a child and putting up such a fuss about this Runespoor. The _Daily Prophet_ , McGonagall, and now this? You're either very concerned for your daughter or you're really enjoying the publicity. I call that childish."

Carrow simmered at Petal's words. In the past, the warrior instincts of the Carrow twins involved running away and self-preservation but right now Hestia Carrow was not going to let herself be bullied by an eleven-year old first year.

"Expelliarmus," Carrow ordered.

Petal smiled at the basic move, and simply flicked her wand, silently dissolving the disarming spell without the need for a verbal spell. Silent magic was not the kind taught at Hogwarts, but the Arclights saw little use in using vocal commands. After all, saying what spell you were going to do was just asking to be countered. The closest concept Hogwarts had was non-verbal magic, but there was a difference between non-verbal magic and true silent magic.

Since Petal remembered that she couldn't use her curses, she decided to use some more basic magic. Unlike her family Petal was still learning silent magic, so she was mostly going to have to use vocal magic. She could tell her silence had surprised the Carrow woman though, and she smiled.

"Don't underestimate an Arclight," Petal warned her, not wanting to waste her time on such a weak opponent.

"All right all right," Hagrid interfered suddenly and stepped between the two with his umbrella-wand in hand.

One advantage of his bulk was that both witches lost their line of sight. Petal could cast anyway, but she lowered her wand. It would be best if she exposed as few of her family's abilities as possible, and it had been foolish to expose their silent spells so easily. Her father was right, and she still had much to learn. Remembering her father suddenly gave her an idea.

"Step aside Professor," Carrow ordered.

"Now, now," Hagrid tried to calm her. "There's no reason to go attacking students Mrs. Carrow."

Carrow's features darkened dangerously at Hagrid's innocent words, just as they had when her daughter had argued with her. "Obviously, Hogwarts has become very lax of late. Not only do you allow a Runespoor to get free and attack my daughter, you now will now let me discipline a student who needs it."

"Now wait just a minute," Hagrid began. "You don't have the right to discipline another student, whatever _that_ entails."

Petal knelt beside the Runespoor cage, and hissed at it softly. It moved back from the door, and she raised her wand to the new lock. Scorpius wondered how she was going to break McGonagall's lock, and was not expecting her to whisper the curse she did.

"Avada Kedavra," she whispered.

There was a flash of green light, and the lock fell. Petal smiled, loving her favorite curse yet again. Seeing that flash of sickly green light out of the corner of his sight reminded Hagrid of the battle of Hogwarts 19 years ago, and filled him with terror. He whipped around in time to see the Runespoor slither off through the detritus of the forest floor deeper into the trees, but he was looking at the eerie traces of green light that still fluttered around Petal's wand.

"There," Petal said smugly, aware that both adults and Scorpius recognized the green light for what it was. "Now you can't hurt Makato."

"Did you just," Carrow began to whisper quietly.

"The killing curse is unlockable and useful for more than killing because of it, as my family knows," Petal assured Hestia Carrow and twirled her wand in her hand. "Now that Makato is out of the way, I suggest you put down your wand and hear what I have to say."

"You used a killing curse," Carrow hissed and stepped back, raising her wand instead of lowering it.

"But I didn't use it to kill," Petal pointed out, "rather, to protect a life. You mutes might not believe me since you're not a Parselmouth, but Runespoor are sentient. I won't let you kill a sentient living being for whatever petty reason you intend."

Scorpius stepped back from Petal, and his foot slipped on the dry leaves, making him fall. He sat there on the floor, looking at the green light as it faded in horror. His nightmare flashed before his eyes. Em glanced at Scorpius curiously, and her bug wings twitched once in surprise before turning back to Carrow and Hagrid.

"Care to see that curse again?" Petal asked, referring to the killing curse.

"You wouldn't dare," Carrow snarled, but her old flight instincts from her time at Hogwarts were starting to kick in.

Petal's amethyst-fuchsia irises were cold, lit only be amusement as if she was enjoying see Carrow squirm. Because Carrow worked in the Ministry, she knew exactly why there was an Arclight here at Hogwarts instead of at her reserve. It was because the Arclight's didn't obey any Ministry of Magic, or any wizarding laws. They ignored them completely along with the issues of the Wizarding World, such as the matters with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

Their family understood things about magic that other wizards didn't, such as silent spells, an entirely different class of spells from normal and non-verbal magic. Not only were they dangerous because of their independence and cold mannerisms, their deeper understanding of magic made them too powerful to ever be forced to comply with the laws or to make them share their knowledge. Wary of the threat they could pose, Kingsley Shacklebolt had managed to convince the Arclight family to send one of their children to Hogwarts to try to integrate them into the Wizarding World before they became a problem. It didn't seem like it was working.

"I wouldn't dare," Petal repeated.

She laughed softly and then louder, sending a chill down the spines of those present. Petal stopped laughing after about ten seconds and looked back at Carrow with a smile that flashed inhuman, unnaturally sharpened canines. It was the first time she had shown her teeth openly.

"Of course I would," Petal promised. "Unlike you mutes, my family isn't afraid of magic. Magic is neither good nor bad, and it is foolish to title it as such like using the word ' _Unforgivable_.' There is no such thing as an _unforgivable_ spell."

As Petal slowly spoke the last sentence, she raised her wand back to Carrow as if she wanted to show her first hand just how _forgivable_ magic was. Carrow stepped back, about to give into her old instincts and bolt. This was exactly why Minister Shacklebolt was worried about the Arclights.

They were terrifying, and in some ways, more terrifying then even Voldemort. Unlike Voldemort they regarded everyone, magic user or not, pure blood or not, as weak "mutes" not gifted with their understanding. The Arclights truly believed that it was not wrong to use curses like Avada Kedavra, a level of arrogance that even Voldemort and the Death had did not possessed.

The girl before Carrow was not fully trained yet, but even a half-trained Arclight was dangerous because of their acceptance of all branches of magic. That knowledge, coupled with Petal's easy smile about using the killing curse made Carrow realize she was out of her league. They did not consider themselves overpowered, and said that their prowess came because they truly understood magic and were enlightened from that knowledge, a level of enlightenment inferior mutes did not share.

"Or," Petal offered, "rather than have to deal with some annoying Auror who'd get mad at me for using one of my curses, you could leave Makato alone."

Annoying, Scorpius thought. Had she really just called the Aurors annoying? Was she truly not scared of them? Certainly, this was her fourth-year with her wand instead of her first year, but there was no way she could defeat an Auror. She fought like a Death Eater though, or like Rikárd of the Light, a Dark Wizard that had been on the loose five years ago and finally killed two years ago.

"Leave him alone?" Carrow repeated, "And let him run loose around Hogwarts's grounds?"

"He'll come back if I ask him to," Petal promised her. "Rather than get in trouble for using my magic on you, we can avoid all that. Let me contact my father."

"Your father?" Carrow frowned, but at this point thought it might be a good idea to back down before Petal did strike at her.

"Aramis Arclight," Petal said, "the current head of the Arclight household. There are many Runespoor on our reserve, and since you have convinced everyone it's not safe for Makato to remain here, he can go to the reserve. A Runespoor with a taste for humans is hardly dangerous compared to the other things we have there. Makato will fit in just fine."

Carrow hesitated, but thought it was best to agree with the girl.

"Besides," Petal added and twirled her wand in her hand again, "if you cooperate with me it might make my father a little more willing to work with the Ministry."

"Fine," Carrow said after a few seconds, although she knew she didn't have a choice.

"Good," Petal said and her wand was suddenly gone from her hand. "I told Makato that if he hurts anyone else I won't defend him so he'll behave himself until my father sends someone to retrieve him. I'll go contact my father now."

With that, Petal walked calmly past Hagrid and Hestia Carrow. Neither attempted to stop her. Scorpius was still looking at the ground, in shock from seeing the Killing Curse in his nightmare in real life.

Petal chuckled to herself after she left their presence and walked calmly towards the Slytherin dungeon where her two-way mirror was. Just as she had been told, there were few members among the mutes with the skill to challenge her family and the determination to carry through their threats. They were also just as foolish as she had been told, arrogantly deciding which types of magic were "unforgivable" or "dark" as if they had some divine right to judge _magic_.

While Petal shook her head, Em hopped off her shoulder and flew in front of her. Petal didn't stop walking, but listened as Em started speaking. Like with Runespoor, many people believed that just because they couldn't communicate with fairies that they were stupid. Em's intelligence wasn't up to Petal's level for certain, but she was no mindless beast. Fairies could simply only understand Parseltongue, and only a Paselmouth could understand the language of the fairies. This was the case for many "unintelligent" magical creatures.

"What?" Petal did stop walking as Em continued to speak and glanced back towards Hagrid's hut where she had been. "Em are you sure?"

Em nodded, and Petal chewed the corner of her lip as she thought. According to Em, when Petal had used the killing curse on the cage to "kill" the cage, Scorpius's magic had reacted to it.

"That is rare," Petal agreed in Parseltongue and resumed walking. "I find it hard to believe a mute could possess a gift like that, let alone Scorpius. He's not arrogant or unpleasant like most mutes, but he's a wallflower who would rather just stay unnoticed by everyone, a shy little introvert."

Em repeated what she had said and Petal sighed.

"You are sure then," Petal said softly and then smiled again, revealing her fangs. "Well, if you're right about Scorpius then it might be worthwhile to get to know him a little better. This might change the situation a little."

* * *

 **At last you see the Arclight's true colors. Voldemort is dead, but that doesn't mean thigns are going to stay peaceful. Getting the Arclights involved with the Wizarding World could backfire, as they have never interfered with it before because they had nothing to do with it. Now that Petal is a part of it, her family is a part of it, and they might do something about these "inferior mutes" running the wizarding world.** **If they do get involved then what will they do?**

 **Scorpius's magic responded to the killing curse instinctively without him even noticing it. I wonder what this might entail for Scorpius.**


	9. Shadow of a Bad Dream

The rest of that day preceded much like everyone expected. Hestia Carrow left in a huff without saying goodbye to her daughter, something that suited Jen perfectly. Petal used her two-way mirror to speak to her father while in McGonagall's presence. It was arranged that Petal's older brother, Kobi, would come in four days to take the Runespoor Makato to the Arclight Reserve. Overall, everyone was happy except for Hestia, and no one seemed to mind she was unhappy.

That night Jen was cleared to leave the Infirmary and sleep in her own bed. Jen was thrilled, although her right arm was going to be in a sling for a day more. It took a while for everyone to settle down and go to sleep that night, including Scorpius. He soon wished he hadn't fallen asleep, for he was once again reliving the same nightmare.

It was a heavy rain, and he had run up to his family's manor to escape the rain only to find the door kicked in and his home torn apart as if searched. When he entered, he went to the drawing room and found his mother's body. Standing over his mother with traces of the killing curse still fluttering around his wand and hand was his father.

He had just killed her, and now he looked up to Scorpius. Scorpius was barely able to utter a word before his father raised his wand and used the killing curse on him. Just like every time he jolted awake when the killing curse hit him. This time he actually fell out of his bed.

Scorpius lay on the ground, tangled in the sheets. He didn't want to get up, and buried his head in his arm. Why did he keep having the same nightmare? The nightmare had begun the night Scorpius had come to Hogwarts, and although it did not happen every night, it was happening often enough that he wasn't getting enough sleep. What was with this nightmare?

Scorpius felt like a zombie the next morning and ate his breakfast half asleep. Jacob and Luke were starting to tease him, and he gave them a glare that might have been a glare had he been more awake.

"Ney," Jacob teased, "you know the Quidditch tryouts are starting? They'll be holding tryouts for the teams then up until the first game on November 3rd. We get to go up against Gryffindor right at the start."

"Of course," Luke sighed, "Quidditch."

The twins were sitting on either side of Scorpius as usual, and Jacob leaned forward so he could stick his tongue out at Luke.

"There are only 6 games per year," Jacob defended, "so everyone gets involved. Even the teachers go crazy cheering for the houses apparently. The older students say that even McGonagall will be jumping around cheering sometimes."

"Headmistress McGonagall," Luke said in a dubious voice, "no way."

"Yes way," Jacob grinned, "so the older students say. The best part of all is that today is Thursday so that means we have flying lessons."

Scorpius's head nodded as if he was agreeing with Jacob, but in reality was starting to fall asleep. Luke poked him between the ribs with the handle of his spoon to jolt him back awake, and Scorpius gratefully rubbed his eyes. The twins looked at each other.

"Flying lessons may not be such a good idea," Jacob warned. "With you so tired I'm half worried you're going to fall asleep and fall off your broom."

"I might," Scorpius agreed and took a sip of his milk to try to wake up.

"Why are you so tired?" Luke asked him seriously. "You don't go to sleep super late like _some people_."

Jacob narrowed his eyes, aware that he was the _some people_ Luke mentioned.

"Nightmares," Scorpius admitted to his friends. "They keep waking me up, and I can never fall back asleep afterwards."

"You could get a sleeping potion from Madame Pomfrey for a dreamless sleep," Luke offered. "Or I could make you one. I've been reading ahead in the potions textbook, and I even borrowed one from the older students. I think I could try it."

"I can imagine what side effects he would get from it," Jacob muttered.

Luke looked like he wanted to whack his brother upside the head, but couldn't because Scorpius was sitting between him and his target. This was the reason why the twins were usually on either side of him because this way the chances of them starting to fight with each other were minimized. Scorpius was used to acting as a buffer to keep the twins from not only arguing, but actually rolling on the ground fighting as they tended to do if he wasn't around to break them up and keep them separate.

"I might see Pomfrey later," Scorpius admitted and covered his mouth with the back of his hand as he yawned again.

He looked up to the head table, seeing McGonagall in the Headmistress's chair. With her were the other professors including Professor Northwind, their transfiguration teacher and Head of Gryffindor House, and Professor Elizabeth Nott, the Defense against Dark Arts teacher and Head of Slytherin House. Professor Nott was part of the Sacred Twenty-Eight pureblood families, and she often gave Petal points for her advanced magical knowledge. Nott and Northwind, a pureblood and a muggle-born, did not get along very well with each other.

In fact, the heads of houses got along with each other as well as the students of the Slytherin and Gryffindor did. Scorpius was still surprised how often wands were drawn between the two houses as he knew it was as serious of a threat as a muggle pointing a gun at someone. His father hadn't warned him that things at the school were so unstable, but things likely hadn't been this bad when his father had gone to school.

"Hey Scorpius," Erebus, sitting across from them, interrupted suddenly as he read over a letter his gray owl had just given him. "Mother says there's a new student transferring here."

Erebus's mother, Flora Carrow, was widowed and after her husband's death two years ago, she had resumed her maiden name. As such, so had Erebus. His father, Etlin Nott, had been an Auror who had been killed by a Dark Wizard named Rikárd of the Light. Rikárd had killed seven other Aurors besides Erebus's father before Harry Potter had finally stopped him. Rather than go on trial for his crimes Rikárd had used the killing curse on himself.

The reason Hestia had her maiden name was different, but not important. What the boys were interested in was Flora Carrow's resources. Flora Carrow was the head of the Department of Magical Education within the Ministry of Magic, and often knew all sorts of things.

"A student transferring?" Luke's attention was instantly on the new information. "That's rare. Who is it?"

"From which school?" Jacob interrupted his twin as Luke tried to speak. "Is it from that French school with all the beautiful witches?"

"Scorpius can you hit Jacob for me?" Luke demanded.

"Hey," Jacob whined even though Scorpius didn't.

"That's Beauxbatons Academy of Magic," Erebus shook his head. "This new student is from Durmstrang Institute. He's a third-year like Jen."

"Durmstrang?" Scorpius set his silverware down. "That's the school that teaches the Dark Arts, right?"

"So rumors say," Erebus grinned. "I'm sure Arclight would rather have gone there, but off topic. Listen to what the new student's name is."

All three of them fell quiet, and Erebus announced dramatically and quietly. "His name is Gabriel Grindelwald."

"Grindelwald!" Jacob said too loudly, and Scorpius finally elbowed him as heads turned their way.

Jacob sank into his bench a little somewhat shyly, but only for a moment.

"Do you mean like Gellert Grindelwald?" Jacob hissed in a quieter voice only a second later, "the second most infamous Dark Wizard next to _Voldemort_!"

His voice got louder again as he said Voldemort's name and this time both Scorpius and Luke hissed at him to shush. Jacob had successfully managed to attract the attention of several other students present, but to no one's surprise he didn't looked abashed.

"Gabriel's his descendent apparently," Erebus announced quietly, "grandson if what mother says is true. He got expelled from Durmstrang."

"How do you get expelled from a school that teaches dark magic?" Luke asked in a correctly quiet voice.

"No idea," Erebus shook his head, "but mother says he'll be here in three days."

"That's this Sunday. The same day Petal's brother is coming to get Makato." Scorpius widened his eyes and looked down at his food as that sank in.

"How do you get expelled from Durmstrang?" Jacob pried.

"It doesn't say," Erebus shrugged and waved the letter, taking care to keep it far enough away that Jacob couldn't steal it. "His grandfather Gellert got expelled though. It was because he was ignoring the rules so much and doing _twisted experiments_. Maybe Gabriel was doing the same thing."

"I doubt Hogwarts would let him transfer here if that was the case," Luke shook his head.

"Then what was it?" Jacob pushed.

"How am _I_ supposed to know?" Luke demanded. "You'll have to wait just like everyone else until he gets here and then ask him, if you dare."

"I'll ask him," Jacob vowed.

"I'll remember you said that," Luke warned.

Scorpius tapped both of the twins on the shoulders at once. "We're going to be late to class."

The twins exchanged shocked looks, and looked around. Their conversation had attracted a lot of attention because Jacob had shouted about Grindelwald and Voldemort, but many students were leaving to go to the first class of the morning. The four boys finished eating as Erebus's owl flew off, and then quickly grabbed the bookbags stuffed under the bench and hurried to charms class.

Leaving the dining hall not long after them was Griffin with another letter from Regan. A few paragraphs were in a different handwriting and Griffin was surprised that Regan's father, Sanguini, had wrote some things as well. Griffin stuffed the letter into the bottom of his bookbag as he went to Transfiguration class, troubled by what Sanguini had written about Arclights far more then what Regan had told him. If what Sanguini had written was correct, then forcing an Arclight to attend Hogwarts was going to end in… No, Griffin would just as soon not repeat Sanguini's words and finish his thought.

Scorpius, Erebus, and the twins slowed down their pace when they reached the third floor and headed down the charms corridor to Classroom 2E. They were starting to relax, certain they would be on time now, when Petal stepped out from the shadows ahead of them with her fairy on her shoulder. Her appearance startled them, and Jacob might have exaggerated his reaction a little.

"Petal," Scorpius greeted. "Did you hear about the transfer student?"

"Gellert Grindelwald's grandson," Petal nodded. "I heard you talking about it, as most of the dining hall did."

Jacob pointedly looked away, and Luke kicked his brother's shin as a light scolding.

"Do you know the Grindelwald's?" Erebus asked curiously.

"Yes," Petal said, and her answer was not the one they were expecting. "Gellert's son, Rikárd, was fostered at our reserve, a rare occurrence. I did not know Rikárd he had a son of his own however. It appears he did."

Rikárd? Erebus thought, the name sounding familiar. He fell silent as he remembered the Dark Wizard who had killed his father and so many other Aurors, surprised by Petal's confession that he had been raised with her family. There was no way it could be Rikárd of the Light though.

When Erebus didn't say anything, Jacob spoke up. "He got expelled from Durmstrang somehow, and he's going to be here this Sunday when your brother comes to fetch Makato."

Petal looked away as she thought over the new information and then said neutrally, "I see."

"We're going to be late," Luke reminded after a moment of quiet and pointed down the hall where their charms class taught Filius Flitwick was.

"Right," Jacob sighed.

"Scorpius," Petal said softly as the boys started to walk again.

Scorpius stopped walking and looked at her curiously.

"Can I speak to you for a second?" She asked him. "I'll make it quick."

The other three boys stared at Scorpius, but he had no idea what she wanted to ask him. He nodded, although he didn't trust himself to speak. Dubiously, the twins and Erebus went ahead to the classroom. Scorpius knew he was going to have some serious explaining to do after classes as he looked back at Petal.

"What do you want to ask me?" He queried politely, not wanting to test her patience.

"Scorpius," Petal started to ask and then faltered, finishing her thought after a second's hesitation. "Have you been having a reoccurring nightmare?"

Scorpius's smile faded, and he blinked at her in surprise. "How do you know about that?"

Petal looked at him sadly and then sighed. Her sorrowful response to his agreement made Scorpius tighten his grip on his bookbag. Did she mean the nightmare where his father killed Astoria and then him?

"Why do you want to know about that?" Scorpius asked her quickly. "It's just a bad dream."

Petal didn't say anything and Scorpius took a step back. "Maybe, maybe not."

"It's not that important," Scorpius defended quickly. "It's not like it could ever happen in real life."

The serious darkness in Petal's amethyst and fuchsia eyes when she looked up at Scorpius made his hand start shaking. His nightmare was just a bad dream. It wasn't real… right?

* * *

 **Readers, you're probably a little worried for Scorpius at this point, and a little annoyed with me. Why are you bringing in more characters? What does Grindelwald or his descendants, especially since there are no records of him having any children, got to do with anything? Why was Rikárd fostered with the Arclights of all places? You still haven't explained to us about the Arclights. When will you?**

 **Actually, the next chapter will solidify the plot. You'll see how the Arclights and Grindelwalds fit into this, and learn a little more about Petal's family that you might wish you hadn't.**


	10. Pieces of the Puzzle

After Petal had asked her question about Scorpius's nightmare Em had reminded her about class and the two of them had needed to stop speaking and run. They had just barely managed to arrive on time and took their seats quickly, sitting apart from each other. Goyle had managed to trip Scorpius when he had walked to his desk, and the scene had been embarrassing.

Thursday was a busy day with charms, Transfiguration with Northwind, and then flying lessons almost back to back. It was not until after their broomsticks were put up that Scorpius was able to catch up to Petal. He did so as quickly as he could, leaving the twins confused as he hadn't mentioned what Petal had asked him.

Erebus walked past the twins in the opposite direction Scorpius and Petal were going, uncharacteristically silent. Jacob elbowed Luke and the two decided to give Petal and Scorpius some privacy and walked after Erebus. Something was obviously bothering him.

"Petal!" Scorpius called out as Petal began to walk down in the direction of the Forbidden Forest where Makato was hiding.

Petal stopped walking and looked at him curiously. "Yes?"

"My nightmare," Scorpius demanded firmly, a little out of breath. "Why were you asking about my nightmare?"

Petal looked away from him to the tall trees ahead of her, unsure what to say. She knew Scorpius would press the issue, but she had yet to figure out how to explain to Scorpius what his nightmare meant. How could Petal begin to explain to Scorpius his soul's reaction to the killing curse and the implications of that?

Being sensitive to a curse sometimes allowed the sensitive person to "see" the curse being used before it actually was. The future usage of the curse would manifest in a dream. If his dream was brought on because of his affinity to the killing curse then that meant the dream was a prophetic one. The nightmare he had been having, if it was a prophetic one, would happen in the future in real life.

It wasn't like he was sensitive to the disarming charm. This was the killing curse, and the dream was a nightmare. Scorpius would never believe her if she said it was his affinity for the killing curse that allowed him to see it being used. There was no way she could tell him that the nightmare was real. She also wasn't sure if the nightmare, whatever it entailed, was connected to his affinity.

"I noticed you were having trouble sleeping," Petal lied smoothly and started walking again with a shrug. "Reoccurring nightmares are the hardest to get over. Sometimes my brother Kobi has them."

Kobi had the nightmares because he was sensitive to Crucio, the torture curse. He had been having a dream of Petal using the Crucio curse while in her Hogwarts uniform out in the forest. The dream had become reality when Petal had used Crucio to get Makato to drop Jen. It had been a dream connected to the spell and as such had happened, but was Scorpius's? Even though Em had assured her Scorpius was sensitive to the killing curse, being sensitive wasn't enough to ensure a "Cursed Dream."

"What's the nightmare about?" Petal asked him, "If you don't mind me prying. Sometimes telling someone your dream can make it go away."

Knowing the contents of the nightmare might help her determine if it was a prophetic Cursed Dream.

Scorpius looked at the forest floor, "I don't mind telling you, but it's really stupid because I know it would never happen. Father would never kill mother."

"The killing curse is used in your nightmare?" Petal asked with piqued curiosity, knowing Scorpius was sensitive to the killing curse.

"I walk up to our manor and the door's been broken open," Scorpius said quietly and hesitantly. "When I enter it looks like the house has been ransacked like someone was searching for something."

His voice faltered, and Petal didn't push. This was something he would have to say at his own pace.

"When I walk inside I find father standing over mother," Scorpius clenched the strap of his bookbag, eyes lowered still. "She's dead, and there are still traces of the killing curse father used on her fluttering around his wand."

Petal narrowed her eyes, but Scorpius couldn't see the action since he was walking behind her.

"Father sees me, and when he does he…" Scorpius's voice faltered, but he mustered his strength to finish his sentence. "He uses the killing curse on me."

"And that's when you wake up?" Petal asked.

"When the curse hits me," Scorpius said sadly. "It's weird because the nightmare is so clear like I'm seeing it in real life, and I always remember it perfectly when I wake up. The nightmare's always the same to. There's never any change in how it happens."

That was bad, Petal sighed. Like most Cursed Dreams, it involved someone close to Scorpius and the curse he was sensitive to. For Scorpius it was the killing curse, his parents, and himself. The fact that the dream was so clear and that it never changed troubled Petal as well. It sounded just like Kobi's Cursed Dreams with Crucio.

Cursed Dreams only occurred when someone was sensitive to one of three curses, curses nicknamed "Unforgivable" by non-Arclights. For someone to be sensitive to the killing curse was rare, and for it to be a mute was unheard of. Was it really a prophetic Cursed Dream?

* * *

Erebus Carrow, called Erebus Nott while his father lived, was sitting near the shore of the lake when the twin sons of Marcus Flint caught up to him.

"Are you all right Erebus?" Luke asked him as the twins sat down to either side of him.

"Rikárd," was all Erebus said and tossed a stone across the lake, skipping it five times before it sank.

"Gabriel's father that was raised with the Arclights?" Jacob guessed.

"Yes," Erebus responded darkly. "The wizard who killed my father and so many other Aurors was named Rikárd as well."

The twins looked at each other over Erebus's lowered head as he tossed another stone into the lake and skipped it three times.

"Rikárd is a common Hungarian name," Luke told him, "I doubt the Rikárd Petal mentioned and the Dark Wizard were the same one."

"His name though," Erebus said grimly and picked up another stone. "The wizard who killed my father was called Rikárd _of the Light_. Of the light. Of the light sounds an awful lot like Arclight."

"That has to be a coincidence," Jacob assured him.

"Yeah," Luke agreed. "It's like what it said in the _Daily Prophet_ about some of Voldemort's wayward Death Eaters being back on the move. They think they can somehow resurrect Voldemort _again_ , but there's no way that's possible. I doubt Petal's family would have something to do with a Dark Wizard like Rikárd."

"I agree with you that the Death Eaters are acting like morons, but what if this isn't a coincidence?" Erebus asked and looked at the stone in his hand. "What if it really is the son of Rikárd of the Light that's going come in three days, and what if it was the same person Petal knew? Rikárd was said to be able to kill so many Aurors because he was using spells and magic the Aurors had never seen before. Don't the Arclights have their own spells like that?"

"We know that the Arclights receive training far superior to their age, and that they don't classify magic as dark or unforgivable," Luke calmed him. "That's all we know about their magic."

"Arclights call outsiders mutes as an insult," Erebus reminded Luke and tightened his grip on the stone in his hand sharply. "Father dueled against Rikárd of the Light once before he was killed and he sent us a letter about his encounter. A lot of the details had to be kept secret for obvious reasons, but father did say that Rikárd called him a mute. The only time I've ever heard that slang outside from his letter was from Petal. It's Arclight slang!"

He threw the stone in his threw the stone but it sank with a splash without any skips. Erebus pulled is knees close to his chest and lowered his head. Luke and Jacob weren't quite sure how to respond to Erebus's last point. Mute was Arclight slang, and the point was troubling. Was there really a connection between the Arclights and the most infamous Dark Wizards of this decade?

* * *

Minerva McGonagall sat in her office across from a visitor from the Ministry of Magic who had just come by Floo powder. The visitor was Anna Mirfield, a former Gryffindor who started in 1990 and now served as something of a go between Kingsley Shacklebolt and others to deliver messages.

"You have reservations about taking Gellert Grindelwald's grandson into the student body?" Mirfield asked politely, aware of that was the reason for the visit.

"Yes I do," McGonagall promised them. "Although not just because of his grandfather's identity."

"No?" Mirfield asked in surprise. "I would expect that to be your greatest concern after his expulsion from Durmstrang."

"I am aware that the charges against Gabriel were not all true," McGonagall reminded in a chiding voice. "As I am aware that our Ministry of Magic had something to do with his expulsion and then offered he be brought to Hogwarts."

Mirfield did not answer to McGonagall's accusation right away, mostly because she was correct.

"Why are you so interested that he be taught here at Hogwarts?" McGonagall asked, getting down to the matter that bothered her.

Mirfield raised her eyes. "I am sure you know of the rampage of Rikárd of the Light that began five years ago, and ended two years ago. Gabriel is Rikárd of the Light's son, and since Rikárd's crimes occurred within our territory we have a right to keep watch on his son."

"That's not the reason though," McGongall accused, "you want him here because Petal Arclight is enrolled here. Does the Ministry really believe there is a connection between Rikárd and the Arclights?"

"Yes," Mirfield said bluntly. "Many of the magical techniques, as well as Rikárd's beliefs, and slang of calling our Aurors mutes is what you would expect of an Arclight. If such a dangerous villain does indeed have a connection to the Arclights then it means the Arclights themselves might be a threat."

"And it is because of your assumption that you encouraged the Arclights to send Petal to Hogwarts," McGonagall sighed. "I can tell she would much rather be at her villa, and if the Arclights are as powerful as stories say then it might not be wise to order them around as we have with the matter of Petal. Even if there is a connection between the Arclights and Rikárd of the Light this could easily backfire."

"It doesn't matter whether one is a pure-blood or a muggle-born for all magic folk still have the same general range of magical powers," Mirfield spoke on a completely different topic. "Blood purity doesn't affect your strength in magic, but the Arclights are different. Their family is unnaturally strong in magic, almost like augmented version of us. Even the weakest Arclight is still vastly stronger than the most powerful non-Arclight on record. Their strength is unnatural and should by all means be impossible, yet it applies to every single person with the surname Arclight."

"I have learned of Petal's strength through the brief time she has been here already," McGonagall dismissed. "Although she does have the knowledge of a fourth-year from starting her lessons early, the sheer strength behind her spells in unusual. She would be considered a once-in-a-generation prodigy if that level of strength was not normal for her family."

"Haven't you wondered how the Arclights became so strong?" Mirfield pressed. "Aren't you curious to know the secret of their blood?"

"I am," McGonagall admitted, "but it is a private matter, and they are a secretive family as shown by how carefully they've managed to alter records and hide their existence and history. I doubt they would take kindly to intruding."

"Still it is intriguing," Mirfield smiled, "you must admit that. How were they able to bend the most basic laws of magic and become so strong?"

"Did you have Petal Arclight enrolled here because you were concerned of a connection between her family and Rikárd of the Light, and the fact that they may be a threat, or because you were curious about the secrets of her family?" McGonagall demanded. "Are you having Rikárd's son, Gellert Grindelwald's grandson, transfer here because you want to keep an eye on him, or because you want to see if he knows something about the Arclights, and so you place him near an Arclight?"

"You are right on all counts," Mirfield chuckled softly, "on both the Arclight girl and Rikárd's son. Although the Arclights are our primary interest."

"You are using Gabriel Grindelwald to fulfill your own curiosity about the Arclights," McGonagall warned. "You are also hoping that there is a connection between the Grindelwalds and the Arclights because if there is you might be able to force the Arclights into the open by accusing them of training Dark Wizards and turning them loose. All because you want to know why the Arclights are so strong."

"Of course we want to know why," Mirfield snapped with slackening patience. "Rikárd is not of Arclight blood and yet he was much stronger than normal. That implies that only part of the Arclight's strength comes from their heritage. The other part can be _taught_ to anyone. Who wouldn't be interested in them?"

McGonagall could not believe how selfish and power-hungry the ministry was acting. Risking upsetting a family as powerful as the Arclights was dangerous, especially since the Arclights didn't answer to any specific government. Before the incident with Rikárd of the Light piqued interests, few even knew they existed. If not for Rikárd, the Arclights likely would have remained unknown.

"Can you place Gabriel Grindelwald within the Slytherin house?" Mirfield asked suddenly, making McGonagall darken.

"The Sorting Hat decides which house each student enters, not me," McGonagall told her. "You want him to be a Slytherin because Petal Arclight is a Slytherin. Do you truly hope that by placing the two of them together you might learn more about the Arclight's secrets?"

"I suppose you would not consider moving Miss. Arclight into the third-year classes?" Mirfield sighed at McGonagall's hostile tone.

Gabriel Grindelwald was a third year. Being told how to run her school by someone from the Ministry for such a selfish reason by someone who was interested in the situation here only because of the possibility of new power almost made McGonagall lose her temper.

"If I am going to chance Petal Arclight's grade then I would move her to the fourth-years," McGonagall assured Mirfield, "for that is the level she is at, not to the third-years."

"I did not think so," Mirfield sighed.

"You don't care about Rikárd," McGonagall said darkly, "you are only interested in Petal's family for their power."

"Incorrect," Mirfield interrupted. "There are many rumors circulating about the Arclights now that we have forced them to come out of hiding with Petal. The Arclights are not only powerful, but their beliefs are that of Dark Wizards, every single one. Power and arrogance is a dangerous combination to possess, and the Arclights have both."

"Then you should have left them and their power alone instead of having Petal enroll here," McGonagall snapped.

"The Arclights are a threat to security," Mirfield informed McGonagall darkly, "a dangerous one. Rikárd is one example, and the werewolves are another."

"Werewolves?" McGonagall almost scoffed at the excuses the Ministry was using against the Arclights.

"Fenrir Greyback is Azkaban for his crimes currently," Mirfield sighed and related information that had been deemed classified. "Although the Ministry has not mentioned this before, his werewolf army has been vanishing."

McGonagall narrowed her eyes at Mirfield's choice of words. "What do you mean by vanishing?"

Mirfield shrugged, "just what it sounds like. The stray members of Fenrir's army and the children they turned into werewolves have been steadily vanishing for the past nineteen years, as have many other werewolves. No bodies have ever turned up and what happened to them has been a mystery until recently."

McGonagall knew that the werewolf community was shrinking, but she didn't know Fenrir's army was as well. "You think the Arclights are taking the werewolves?"

"No," Mirfield answered strongly and raised her brown eyes up to Hogwarts's Headmistress. "We think they're recruiting them."

McGonagall leaned back.

Mirfield continued speaking in a serious tone. "On the night of a full moon, strange wizards are seen near a werewolf's home, or hunting grounds if they are part of Fenrir's army. The wizards are always found in the company of at least one werewolf that appears to be loyal to them, and all of these strange wizards speak to other werewolves in Parseltongue."

"They're Parselmouths?" McGonagall asked.

"Yes," Mirfield nodded. "From the report you have given us on Petal Arclight, she is a Parselmouth. One of the reasons Arclights call non-Arclights mutes might be because we do not speak Parseltongue."

While McGonagall thought the implications over Mirfield continued.

"The werewolves contacted by this group either vanish within a few days, or else have their memories erased of the encounter," Mirfield drummed her fingers on McGonagall's desk. "There are very few known Parselmouths, and they have all had alibies or else could not be behind this. When you include the Arclights however, the situation changes."

"You think the Arclights are rebuilding Fenrir Greyback's werewolf army under their control?" McGonagall asked seriously.

"Possibly," Mirfield warned. "When you take into account Rikárd of the Light's actions and upbringing with the Arclights, the Arclight's unnatural strength, their arrogance that they are the only true magic users, their mastery in all branches of magic including the Dark Arts, and the situation with the werewolves there is one very likely conclusion."

"A Third Wizarding War brewing between the Arclights and us," McGonagall said softly, unaware of the werewolves beforehand and agreeing now that their situation did change things.

"Now do you see why we have Petal Arclight enrolled here?" Mirfield asked McGongall somewhat gently. "We have cause to be concerned about what might happen if we continue to let the Arclights wander unchecked. Finding the source of their strength might also mean finding their weakness, so we are interesting in learning what that source is for more than personal power gain."

"Gabriel Grindelwald then," McGonagall said.

"Is a means to that end," Mirfield finished, "nothing more. We cannot hold him accountable for his father or grandfather's actions and don't. All we want is to see if he has knowledge of the Arclights and if his presence might shed some light on things."

"You could always ask the Arclights if they are taking the werewolves and why they are," McGonagall pointed out.

"They have never told us about the source of their power, why would they tell us that?" Mirfield rolled her eyes. "If they are assembling an army of werewolves to act as foot soldiers then they would hardly say as much."

McGonagall looked down at her desk as she thought over the new information she had been given and its dark implications.

"Accusing someone of planning a war could create tension where there are otherwise none," McGonagall warned. "You could end up starting the war you are trying to prevent."

"Unlikely," Mirfield dismissed briskly, and then asked. "Have I answered your questions about Gabriel Grindelwald?"

"Yes," McGonagall admitted, "except for one."

"What could that be?" Mirfield asked as if she couldn't imagine what else McGonagall could ask with the situation so obvious.

"Do you have Gabriel Grindelwald's arrival coinciding with the visit from Kobi Arclight on purpose?" McGonagall asked slowly.

Mirfield smiled without answering, a clear yes. They needed information on the Arclights, and as Gabriel Grindelwald's father had been raised with them, he was their only solid connection. If the Arclights were planning something, then Gabriel Grindelwald was their best chance at finding out what it was. McGonagall did not like this one bit.

* * *

 **Now the scene is set. How the play may determine the difference between peace and war because things are not peaceful between the "Inhuman" Arclights and the "mute" magicfolk.**


	11. Telling Clues

Sunday morning came, and the majority of the student body awoke earlier than they would have under any other circumstances. Not only were they going to see Petal Arclight's older brother, but Gellert Grindelwald's grandson was arriving today. No one wanted to sleep in and risk missing either of the events.

Petal had gone down to the Dark Forest by herself to call Makato out of hiding, and the students had begun to gather at the top of the entrance footpath that led from Hogsmeade's Station to the castle where Kobi Arclight was going to meet his sister. Erebus had remained quiet over the three days, but Scorpius and the twins had succeeded in dragging him down there with the other students. Scorpius had almost needed to be literally dragged because the nightmare of his father killing his mother and then him had struck again, so he hadn't gotten much sleep.

Midway to the entrance, Griffin Lestrange appeared and cut the three of them off.

"Can I borrow Scorpius for a minute?" He asked them.

They had been talking about Petal, what her brother must be like, and about the Arclights in general. Scorpius had nodded and the twins had gone ahead to secure him a place. He and Griffin walked a little way away and Scorpius turned to face his cousin. Scorpius wondered what Griffin wanted to talk about and if it could wait.

"Scorpius," Griffin began, "do you like Petal?"

"Like her?" Scorpius asked, not understanding.

Griffin nodded. "Do you consider that Arclight a friend?"

Something about Griffin's tone when he said "that Arclight" unsettled Scorpius. It wasn't said gently.

"What of it?" He asked dubiously, going on the defensive without even realizing it. "She's a little strange, but I like her."

"Nothing about it," Griffin raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. "I just want you to be careful around her. Not very much is known about her family and there are a lot of rumors. Regan told me-"

"That vampires won't touch Arclight blood," Scorpius interrupted. "I know. You already said that."

"Regan's father says that the Arclights are dangerous," Griffin implored. "He told me one of the stories the vampires have about them. I don't think it's safe for you to get too close to Petal."

"I'm fine," Scorpius repeated with steel in his voice. Then he sighed and settled on a compromise. "I'll be careful, cousin. Besides, she's only eleven."

Griffin watched as Scorpius shrugged his shoulders and then let him leave to catch up to his friends. He sighed softly as he thought about Sanguini's story about the Arclights. They saw only other Arclights as worthwhile beings. All others, from muggles to pure-bloods were _prey_. That was the word Sanguini had used. At first, Griffin had thought it was because Sanguini was a vampire, but he had realized as he kept reading that that was how the Arclights saw non-Arclights. They had nearly exterminated the vampire species when they had gone to war. A war, Sanguini admitted with bewilderment, that all records and memories of had been destroyed.

"Eleven years old is probably enough," Griffin muttered.

Then he turned to catch up to Scorpius. He had promised Sanguini he would tell him what he could about this new Arclight and he intended to be able to.

Scorpius was a little surprised to see there wasn't an overwhelming crowd when he finally caught up to the twins. Erebus had found the brothers and the three of them were having an animated discussion about whether or not Erebus's cousin Jen would be swooning over Petal's brother. Erebus and Jacob said yes but Luke was less sure.

Jacob waved at Scorpius obviously, a movement that attracted the attention of another nearby group. It was comprised of Albus Potter, Rose Weasley, Conner Finnigan and several other Gryffindor students. Things did not escalate this time as neither house wanted to look bad in front of their mysterious visitor. Jen came walking up not long afterwards with a friend from Slytherin, and there were other third-years including Victorie Weasley and Edward Lupin.

Still, there were surprisingly few students. There _were_ classes tomorrow though and no one knew exactly when Kobi Arclight was going to appear. Likely, they didn't want to sit around wasting time they could be using for study or homework. Scorpius knew that Kobi would be showing up soon though. Petal had tipped him off just before she had left to coax Makato out of his hiding place in the Forbidden Forest. It seemed that word of Kobi's imminent arrival hadn't spread far past the Slytherin house.

Headmistress McGonagall came walking up around the same time Griffin caught up to some of his friends. Everyone probably assumed that meant Kobi was due to appear, but it was not in fact Kobi. The students heard the approaching carriage being pulled along the path by invisible Thestrals. There was murmuring among the students. Thanks in part to Jacob's lack of tact, most of the school knew about Gabriel Grindelwald's expulsion from Durmstrang and subsequent transfer. Although there were rumors that he was the son of Rikárd of the Light, the unconfirmed son of Gellert Grindelwald, no one knew for sure.

McGongall went to greet the carriage, and the students gathered couldn't help but watch as the door opened and the transfer student made his appearance. He looked startled to see such a large crowd as he stepped out of the carriage and McGonagall spoke to him, likely telling him both that news had spread of his arrival and that the crowd was here to see someone else.

He stepped down from the carriage a little warily, and Luke stared. "He looks just like Gellert!"

Luke was right. Gellert's grandson had wavy golden blonde hair that hung almost to his shoulders, blue eyes, and was still wearing his Durmstrang uniform of blood-red robes and cape edged with brown fur. He looked just like Gellert, but while Gellert had been described as a "merry face" and having "an air of triumphant trickery about him", Gabriel was serious. There seemed to be a dark cloud hanging over his head, and a dangerous aura.

"He does," Jacob agreed with Luke, "except he looks so moody."

Gabriel Grindelwald barely glanced at the crowd as he turned back to the carriage and whistled. There was movement inside and a small dog poked his nose out. A white Jack Russel Terrier walked down from the steps to the ground and approached his master. Its long, forked tail revealed that it was no muggle dog.

"Oh," Luke whispered, "that's a crup."

"Crup?" Erebus, done speaking to a student next to him, asked.

"Yeah," Luke hummed with a nod. "They're a Rank 3 beast, loyal towards wizards and vicious towards muggles. I'm kind of surprised to see one. You need a license to be an owner."

"I've never seen a dog with a tail like that," Scorpius mused.

"That's because Crup owners are supposed to remove the forked tail when the animal's a pup," Luke grumbled. "It's to prevent it from being noticed by muggles."

"Sounds painful," Jacob winced.

"The severing charm can be done painlessly," Luke corrected.

"I find that doubtful, bookworm," Jacob scoffed.

"Care to test that theory?" Luke asked.

"You don't know the severing charm," Jacob promised him.

"My brother does," someone chimed in, weaving between the crowd to join the cluster of boys.

"Griffin knows it?" Scorpius asked, looking surprised.

"It's a fifth-year level spell," Marcelle Lestrange shrugged. "If he doesn't know it he should learn it this year. Although… he doesn't have the delicate hand needed for charms."

Marcelle giggled and the other children smiled or laughed. A murmur surged through the crowd, drawing the Slytherins and the other children's attention. They all turned and looked, following the crowd's indication. Gabriel, who had started to walk towards the entrance hall, also stopped and turned.

Approaching the school was a flying carriage pulled by something with wings. The students stepped forward and then skittered back when the carriage landed. Now the students could see it better. It was a dark blue coach carriage with silver highlights, being pulled by six tawny-colored animals. They had the bodies of giant cats with a long tail and paws, but the wings and heads of eagles.

"Griffins," Luke whispered. "Wow. I've never seen one before. I can't believe they're pulling the carriage. They're not tame like winged horses."

Emblazoned on the door of the carriage was a strange silver symbol that Scorpious didn't recognize. It looked like a crescent moon inside a sun. He frowned, trying to place that symbol. It didn't look like one he had ever seen before.

"What's that crest?" He asked the group around him, wondering if Luke knew.

It wasn't Luke that answered though, but Marcelle. "That must be the Arclight crest. I've seen it on some of Petal's things."

The carriage came to a halt, the griffins pawing at the ground. They looked around at the group, but the students kept back. None of them approached them, watching as the animals clicked their beaks and extended giant claws from within their large paws.

McGonagall signaled for Gabriel to stay and then approached the carriage. The door opened as she approached and someone in his late teens walked down the step to the ground. He had longish hair styled messily. Like Petal, the hair was silver and shimmered like moonlight. His eyes were a strange purplish-blue eyes with flecks of dazzlingly bright silver, almost as if they were made from Lapis Lazuli stones. It was obvious he was human but something about the way he stepped down, about how his body moved, that made McGonagall wonder. Rather than wear any sort of a uniform, he wore boots, jeans, a t-shirt, and a denim jacket. The female students looking at him murmured to each other.

"Hello," McGonagall greeted him. "Are you Kobi Arclight?"

Kobi nodded, his wavy hair moving with him. "That's me. Where's my sister and the Runespoor?"

"They should be here any moment now," McGonagall assured him.

Right on cue, another buzz went through the students and they quickly backed away, clearing a path for whoever was approaching. It was Petal, walking towards them with Em on her shoulders and Makato following behind her. The Runespoor's right head was swinging around, looking every which way as it slithered forward while the middle one kept its eyes on Petal and the left one looked ahead to the carriage.

It was impossible to deny Petal and Kobi were siblings when they came to stand next to each other.

 **"How are you doing Pet?"** Kobi asked her, speaking in Parseltongue instead of English. **"Have these mutes given you any trouble?"**

 **"Nothing I can't handle,"** Petal smiled, responded in Parseltongue, and stepped aside to introduce the Runespoor. **"This is Makato. Northwind wanted to put him in a cage."**

 **"Who's Northwind?"** Kobi asked curiously.

 **"Head of the Gryfindor House,"** Petal grumbled. **"I had to… _convince_ her not to interfere. She didn't want to listen to a Slytherin. It's like our informers told father. The Wizarding World is still divided from the Great War, and I doubt there are few places more obvious then here. I think the others want to kill the Slytherins because so many of them had family with the Death Eathers."**

 **"Sounds like you've had plenty of chances for practice,"** Kobi grinned.

 **"Several already,"** Petal nodded agreement. **"These mutes see my body and look no deeper. To them I am only a little girl. They don't even think to guess that I am a fourth-year mage that has been training in combat for twice that time."**

 **"Have you needed to use your combat yet or just magic?"** Kobi asked worriedly.

He knew his sister was in little danger, but she was still a young girl. Mutes could be unpredictable when they met something that was greater than they were. Students she could handle, but if Petal got into a fight with one of the teachers things could end badly. Kobi hated the fact that his sister was the only Arclight here. If nothing else he wished that he had been able to attend the school with her so Petal would have kin. That wasn't the plan though.

 **"Nothing too extreme,"** Petal shrugged. **"I had to tell them about the reserve and some of my training though."**

 **"That's fine,"** Kobi told her and looked at the Runespoor. **"Makato, is it? Are you ready to leave?"**

The Runespoor's heads looked at him curiously and then nodded the heads together. Kobi exchanged a smile with his sister. Petal gave him a sound look, one that promised Kobi she was fine. She thought about mentioning Scorpius's dreams concerning the killing curse, but put the idea aside. There was no proof the dream was relevant.

 **"You can go in the carriage,"** Kobi promised, **"and you, little sister, need to remember to keep up with your combat training as well as your spells."**

Petal suddenly looked guilty. **"How did you tell?"**

 **"Your stance is bit too relaxed."**

Petal crossed her arms over her chest and looked away with a huff. That made Kobi laugh and ruffle her hair affectionately. She smiled at him anyway. Makato slithered to the foot of the carriage and lifted himself to the step and then inside.

One of the advantages of Parseltongue was that it was fast. If it took five seconds to say a sentence in a mundane language, like English or French, it would only take two seconds to say it in Parseltongue. Thus, their conversation had taken half the time to say it as it did to read it. Unfortunately, the language was one of magic. It couldn't be taught like a mundane language. Either you were born able to speak it or you weren't.

Someone else moved inside the carriage and as the Runespoor vanished inside. Another human, this one also in her late teens, appeared at the doorway. Her skin was a mocha brown color and her eyes several shades darker with her dark chocolate brown hair in a pixie bob. There wasn't much for clothing, wearing a white haltertop, shorts, and sandals.

Kobi raised a hand, offering to help her down from the carriage. She shook her head no and looked around at them, her gaze setting on McGonagall. The woman tilted her head to one side, watching the Headmistress in a way that was both unsettling and animalistic.

"You're a werewolf," McGonagall said flatly.

The teen's eyes flashed gold and reflected the light like a wolf's. Then they returned to brown. McGonagall remembered part of her conversation with Anna Mirfield, wishing that she didn't.

 _"There is something else about the Arclights," Mirfield had said slowly, "a rumor, nothing more. It has to do with their werewolf allies. The rumor says that the Arclights have found a way to remove the limiter."_

 _"Limiter?" McGonagall had asked._

 _"Werewolves only become werewolves under the light of the full moon," Mirfield reminded her. "They have a limiter so to say. The Arclights can supposedly remove the limiter so they can shift to their wolf form anytime they want. They can access a werewolf's power at will and arrange it so the werewolf stays sane. They retain their humanity."_

 _"That's impossible," McGonagall said flatly. "To let the werewolf shift outside of the full moon is one thing, but for them to keep their sanity…"_

 _"That's the general consensus," Mirfield had nodded agreement. "The Ministry of Magic wants to know the limits of the Arclight's magic though, so they need to make sure these are rumors only."_

 _"Why is the magic of the Arclights of such interest?" McGonagall repeated her question. "Why?"_

McGonagall also remembered Mirfield's answer, but she didn't want to think about the rest of the conversation right this moment. It was too troubling. Besides, the Ministries of Magic of the world had no proof behind their claims concerning the Arclights. The only reason they even knew about the Arclights was because the vampires had warned them, and all _they_ had were stories and legends.

"Now, now Leah," Kobi Arclight chided the werewolf beside him, "do calm down. You should know by now that most humans don't get along with werewolves. I half think they hate werewolves more than they hate vampires."

His cordial demeanor became the least bit more serious when he mentioned the word vampires, but quickly returned to normal. Petal's disdain of them was not unique among her family.

"Those leeches at least have an excuse to not act human," Kobi continued, "they're not human after all. Werewolves though, are former humans. Humans do not like to see the ferality they have inside them, a ferality that comes forward for werewolves under the right conditions. Most refuse to admit they even have one, treating werewolves as if they're inferior or bestial, believing that they are better than them. It's quite conceited."

"You're human though," Northwind, who had approached behind McGonagall, asked.

Kobi tipped his head in a move that could be interpreted as agreement. "Knowing your own flaws and weaknesses is a good thing. If you know your limits, you're less likely to get in over your head."

"Seaweed Head," Petal muttered at Kobi.

Kobi knew she was referring to his messy hairstyle, and leveled a glare. He _liked_ his hair. Petal looked up at him with sweet innocence. It was his own fault for being so free with his speaking that he had almost gotten backed into a corner about their heritage. She supposed he had managed to dodge the question, but he shouldn't have needed to do so in the first place.

Northwind looked at Leah, who was still smirking, dangerously. Kobi shifted his stance so he was partially in front of Leah, surprising Northwind. He was still smiling softly, but his eyes had become hard, cold, and flat. They sparkled with a light that was not at all comforting. Petal was looking at her to, but her smile was less pronounced. Her eyes had an excited look as if she wanted a chance for a real fight. The head of the Gryffindor House did not feel particularly threatened by the elven-year-old girl and her fifteen-year-old brother, but something about them troubled her nerves.

"Will you be staying?" McGonagall asked him, trying to mediate the parties.

Northwind looked away, and both Petal and Kobi seemed to stand down. Petal looked a little put out.

"I'm afraid not," Kobi told her in a tone both gentle and docile as if he was still speaking to his little sister. "I should get Makato to his new home. My family also alerted me that there have some strange ships spotted near our island. It may be poachers again."

"Does your family require assistance?" McGonagall inquired.

Kobi and Petal both gave her a strange look as if they couldn't understand why they would possibly need help.

"No thank you," Kobi shook his head finally. "There are many magical animals on our family's reserve. We're used to poachers."

 **"I'm going to miss all the fun,"** Petal grumbled.

Kobi pat her on the head as if she was a toddler and she shoved his hand aware with a scything glare. As Kobi's arm moved aside, Scorpius saw that his left forearm was wrapped in leather. Scorpius lost sight of it as Kobi lowered his arm and his sleeve fell back in place, leaving him to wonder about it.

"Sorry this is such a short visits, sis," Kobi apologized to Petal in English. "But you know how things are back at the reserve."

"I know," Petal assured him. "I'll see you at winter break."

"Headmistress," Kobi turned to address McGonagall. "If you will pardon the abruptness of our visit, we shallt dally anymore."

Petal thought how strange it was that her brother spoke so properly and yet kept his hair so messy. You'd expect to see someone that talked like he did to be a nobleman primly dressed in a suit, or some slick-talking criminal kingpin in a bowler hat and carrying a cane. Yet he dressed like typical teenager that really didn't care what he looked like.

Leah, the werewolf, smirked at McGonagall and then climbed back into the carriage. Kobi bowed in a gentlemanly sort of way to McGonagall and the students, causing the female students to chatter again, and then entered the carriage and closed the door behind him.

Petal must have seen Scorpius and the knot of other students because she approached their group and stood by them to watch her brother leave. The students skittered backwards as the griffons began to move. They opened their wings and took off with the carriage quickly. Apparently, their strength was impressive.

Once the carriage vanished from sight, McGonagall clapped her hands once. The steadily increasing volume of murmurs and whispers that had taken over the students present fell silent almost instantly. Everyone looked up at her, wanting to get back to their conversations.

"There are no classes today," McGonagall admitted, "but there will be tomorrow. I am certain everyone can find better things to do then stand here."

Most of the students took her remark and began to break up. McGonagall glanced at Northwind briefly, annoyed that she had been so brisk with the Arclight visitor, and then waved for Gabriel to accompany her. He did so with the Krup on his heels. Northwind walked off in another direction, and Petal quickly found herself the center of attention.

Jen and one of her friends approached them, the friend wearing Slytherin colors.

"You have a cute brother," Jen smiled at Petal.

"Is he single?" Her friend asked.

Petal leaned backwards, surprised by the brazen question.

"Keira," Jen scolded her friend.

"Oh come on," the Slytherin rolled her eyes. "You were about to ask her that to."

Jen turned red, confirming Keira Travers's guess. Keira smiled at her friend's obvious nature. She tugged at Jen's sleeve.

"Let's go finish up our Ancient Runes homework," Keira offered. "It's due tomorrow."

"Hey," Jen stalled, "Petal never answered me."

"He's got a girlfriend," Petal answered.

Now Jen lowered her head in disappointment, allowing Keira to escort her away with a wave at the first-years. Aaron Goyle and Earic Selwyn, Scorpius saw with relief, had already left. As he looked, he saw Griffin walking away, shaking his head as he left as if dissatisfied. Two of his fellow fourth-years, the same two Peta Arclight had dueled – and thrashed – during their first day at school, were talking about the hot werewolf chick Kobi had with him.

When they tried to draw Griffin into the conversation, something he normally would have jumped right into, he waved them off and told them, "maybe later."

"Marcelle," Scorpious whispered at her while Petal was distracted by the twins and Erebus. "Is your brother all right?"

Marcelle sighed. "I think so. I don't think he likes the Arclights all too much. He's really busy chatting with Regan by letter to, and she's distracting him."

Scorpius nodded idly, thinking about what Griffin had pulled him aside to say. He was warning Scorpius to be careful because the vampires had told him some bad stories about Petal's family. Now that he thought about it, Petal and Kobi seemed to hate the vampires as much as the vampires, according to Griffin, hated them. It was sort of strange.

Scorpious let the issue slide and slipped away from the gaggle of students. He had History of Magic homework to finish. Later, he would regret not investigating things. In his defense, he didn't have access to all of the information he needed to put the clues he was getting together.

He would take small comfort from that fact when the Arclight family approached the various Ministries of Magic of the world and said "hello" in the worst way possible.

* * *

 _ ***Ominous closing music***_

 **Just to clarify, words that are in bold in the story are being spoken in Pareseltongue instead of English. I'm copying chapter by chapter from a Word document to this website and i switched the font for Parseltongue in Word. Unfortunately, this website puts everything in one font. Grr.**

 **Am i introducing too many characters? There are basically three "cliques" of characters: the first-years (Scorpius, Erebus, twins, Marcelle, Goyle and Selwyn), the third-years (Jen, Gabriel, Keira), and the fourth-years (pretty much just Griffin). There are also the Arclights, but that's just Petal and Kobi, and other various non-Slytherin's (which aren't as critical as the Slytherins).**

 **If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave a review or message me. I don't know how other writers do it, but I look forward to most feedback from my readers.**


	12. Rowan

A seventh-year Slytherin Perfect escorted Gabriel Grindelwald to the Slytherin dungeon where the transfer student's things would already be waiting. Gabriel's crup trotted by his side and Gabriel himself fussed at the Hogwarts robes and the green and silver badge they now possessed. He liked the Durmstrang uniform better.

"Hey Torin!" Someone called out.

The Perfect with Gabriel glanced over to the source of the voice and stopped walking as Jen and Keira approached.

"Is he a Slytherin?" Jen asked him.

"See for yourself," Torin waved a hand at the Slytherin badge Gabriel wore.

"Wicked," Keira smirked.

Gabriel looked away from them at the moving paintings, watching as the characters chatted and switching paintings at will. It was a great deal more unorthodox then it had been at Durmstrang.

"Since you two are here why don't you escort him to our rooms," Torin replied back. "I have research I need to do in the library."

With that, he turned and walked away from them.

"H-hey!" Keira called out, "get back here!"

The Perfect ignored them and went down a staircase, making it to the other side just before it moved.

"Oh great," Keira grumbled.

"You asked for that," Jen laughed softly at her friend before looking at Gabriel. "We already did our homework so we can take you. It's this way."

Gabriel nodded somewhat wearily, unsure of the personality of the Slytherins. At Durmstrang, there hadn't been any Houses and certainly no paintings that moved. Things at the Institute were much more… well, disciplined.

"I'm Jocaste Harrow," Jen introduced to him, "but only my mother calls me that. Just call me Jen. The witch that's chatting with the painting and falling behind is Keira Travers."

Keira, who had indeed been chatting with a woman in a pink silk dress in a painting, bid the lady goodbye and caught up to Jen, brushing by Gabriel as she did so.

"That was Juliette," Keira pointed out. "She always knows everything happening in the castle."

Gabriel gave her a bizarre look, surprised that she would be chatting with a _painting_ so readily. This place, he decided, was nothing like Durmstrang. He wasn't sure yet if that was a good thing or not.

Keira raised a wand in her hand, turning it over and looking at it. It was about a foot long, made of whiteish wood, with the handle a darker color. The handle was also thicker than the rest of the wand and the shaft was inscribed with what looked like feathers.

"Hey!" Gabriel shouted when he recognized the wand.

His hand fluttered to his side but his wand wasn't there. With a huff, he snatched his wand back from Keira. Keira let him take it, still smirking. He glared at her as he spun the wand between his fingers once, making sure she hadn't damaged it.

"Keira," Jen sighed, not surprised by her actions. "You'll have to get used to her. She's quite an astute pickpocket."

"I was just curious," Keira implored innocently. "The type of wand a wizard has reveals a lot about him."

"I don't care," Gabriel snapped, replacing the wand where it belonged. "Didn't your parents teach you not to take things that aren't yours?"

"Didn't have any parents," Keira shrugged.

Gabriel paused as Keira turned away from him, crossing her arms behind her head. Oops. That was a stupid thing to say.

"I'm the last of House Travers," Keira explained just a little bit before switching subjects. "By the way, what is a Slytherin doing with a rowan wand? Rowan wands specialty is defensive charms, and I don't think I've ever heard of a Dark Wizard using one before. Aren't they placed with the clear-headed and pure-hearted? Sounds more like a Gryffindor to me."

Gabriel didn't answer. He knew exactly why the Sorting Hat had placed him in Slytherin. It was because of what he had done at Durmstrang to get expelled, of the five students he had killed. Their deaths were accidently for sure, but his friends would still be alive if he hadn't been playing around trying to find new spells and had one spell slip out of control. There was no way the Sorting Hat would place him in Gryffindor. In fact, he couldn't understand why his wand hadn't already rejected him.

Keira looked a little put out when Gabriel didn't answer her question and instead asked, "Where's the Slytherin common room?"

Jen, respecting his privacy, nodded and continued to escort him down staircases.

"What was with that Runespoor?" Gabriel asked after silence fell.

"That was Makato," Jen explained. "Petal was just handing him to her brother so he wouldn't be killed. He attacked me earlier, almost killed me. Stupid Gryffindors thought it would be funny to let him out of his cage and scare us."

"Makato?" Gabriel, voicing one of the questions Jen's explanation had left him.

"The Runespoor," Keira spoke up this time. "Petal says that's his name and I'm not really going to argue with her since she's a Parseltongue. Since that's his name, most of us have started calling him that instead of ' _the Runespoor_.'"

"Petal's a-" Jen started to say.

"Arclight," Gabriel finished for her.

Both the girls stopped walking and looked at him strangely.

"How'd you know that?" Keira asked. "You know the Arclights or somethin?"

Me and my big mouth, Gabriel thought to himself. Always getting me in trouble. It got me in trouble when I suggested me friends work with me on the new curse I found and now it's gone and done it again.

"I read about them somewhere," Gabriel dismissed.

"Oh?" Keira added, obviously not willing to drop the issue.

Jen fixed her friend with a glare and Keira lapsed into silence.

"It's this way," Jen addressed Gabriel and began to lead him down a hallway, ignoring Keira.

Keira pouted but trailed after them. Gabriel came up short when he saw that Jen was leading him to a dead end and he instantly assumed that he had been the victim of a joke. Jen didn't stop walking though.

When she reached the wall, she called out just loud enough for Gabriel to hear, "thestral."

Gabriel understood when the plain stone wall to one side and exposed a room beyond. Keira tugged Jen aside as Gabriel entered, whistling softly for the Crup to follow him.

"What is it?" Jen asked Keira softly once Gabriel had entered.

"You think he's cute," Keira accused.

"Anyone with eyes would say that," Jen countered, "including you."

"I do," Keira agreed, "but don't you think it's strange that he knows about the Arclights? Do you really think Rikárd of the Light is his father? Erebus says that Rikard studied with the Arclights and that was why it was so hard for the Aurors to bring him down. You think he's right?"

"I don't know," Jen shrugged, "and nothing will come from gossiping idly."

"It's fun though," Keira tried to defend.

Jen shook her head and walked away from her friend into the dungeon. Keira shrugged and then joined her as the wall slid closed behind them.

* * *

Several hours later, Gabriel had been settled with the other Slytherin third-year boys and had left the dungeon to explore the castle. His Crup, Piros, had been left asleep on his bed. McGonagall hadn't been pleased by the choice of companion, but since he was licensed to have one, had allowed him to stay. Gabriel decided as he walked around the campus that if Durmstrang was a military academy, Hogwarts was a public school and very... undisciplined. That word kept coming to mind.

It was as he was walking by the lake, which Jen had told him had a tame giant squid living in it, that he saw her. She had her silver hair pulled into two high ponytails and was lying on a tumble of smooth stones near the water's edge, sunning herself in the sunlight that poured from the clear sky. Gabriel made a move to step back and leave the Arclight sleeping, but a flicker of green around the girl awoke her. Petal opened amethyst-magenta eyes to see Gabriel standing there and she smiled.

"Hello there," she greeted him, rolling onto her stomach so she wasn't looking at him upside down. "I see you've turned into a Slytherin. I can't say I'm surprised after what you pulled at Durmstrang."

Gabriel regretted having come this way already.

"What do you know about that?" Gabriel demanded.

Petal smiled and without bothering to sit up, said. "House Arclight may not be the largest family, but we have friends everywhere – even at Durmstrang."

Gabriel looked away, but Petal noticed that he wasn't surprised by her admission of how far the Arclight's contacts went. That was strange for a mute.

"Durmstrang," Petal continued, "used to be a palace before it became a school and it is riddled with hidden rooms and secret passageways. Many students took advantage of the rooms for practice and study, even when they dabbled in Dark Arts. Teachers tended to turn a blind eye whatever the students did, which accounts for Durmstrang's reputation as a school of Dark Arts. Gellert Grindelwald took advantage of it just like you did and the same thing happened – your experiments led to dead students."

"No," Gabriel snapped, tightening a hand into a fist. "You're wrong. My grandfather deliberately killed the students. What happened with me was an accident. Me and my friends were trying a new spell. If I had any idea what would have happened then I never would have released the spell."

"Yet you did and five students are dead," Petal agreed, wondering if she could get more information from him if she angered him. "It's a wonder you aren't dead as well. You should have died, Grindelwald."

"János," Gabriel corrected.

"Hmm?" Petal asked, resting her chin on one hand.

"I never met my grandfather Gellert or my father Rikárd," Gabriel told her strongly. "Everyone calls me Grindelwald and that's my legal name, but I don't want that name. Call me Gabriel János. That's my mother's maiden name."

"What you call yourself is of no concern to me," Petal dismissed. "Still, I wonder how a mute like you survived trying an Arclight spell. You should have died with your friends."

Gabriel raised his head, not flinching under her intense look. There was nothing warm or friendly in her gaze. In fact, he didn't recognize any human traits, merely a detached curiosity as to why he wasn't dead with the others. That irked him as much as the looks he got when someone heard his name was Grindelwald.

He was so frustrated that when he spoke to her he did so not in English, but in clear, precise Parseltongue. " **I'm not as much of a mute as you think**."

Petal gave a start and slowly, finally, sat up. "Well, well, well. That changes things a bit."

Gabriel instantly regretted revealing he was a Parselmouth as the look in Petal's eyes changed.

"The Old Tongue is powerful," Petal mused. "It's been degraded as the language of the Dark Wizards and branded as Parseltongue, but its nature has never changed. The Old Tongue can't be learned or taught like English, Hungarian, or any other mortal language. You are either born with the talent or you're not, just like you're either born with magic or you're not."

Petal's tone of voice had changed since she had discovered he could speak Parseltongue – the Old Tongue. He was no Arclight but he understood that spells were not meant to be spoken in English. They were supposed to be spoken in the language of magic. Very few could do so anymore though.

"You're still a mute," Petal decided after a bit of deliberation. "You need to use that trinket you carry with you to cast."

Gabriel's hand went to his wand.

" **Wands are relatively new creations** ," Petal continued with a shrug, switching to Parseltongue to foil any potential eavesdroppers, " **much younger then magic. My family remembers it, as do those thrice-dratted vampires, but few others. Tell me, did your spell work?"**

 **"What?"**

 **"The spell you did that killed five of your friends,"** Petal exemplified. **"Did it work?"**

Gabriel swallowed but Petal smirked and leaned back, looking amused. " **I thought as much. That spell you used wasn't a new spell. It was an old one, one of ours."**

Gabriel stood rooted to the spot at Petal's admission. He remembered standing in a triangle shape with two of his friends, all three of them with their wands raised. As one, they spoke the invocation Gabriel had found to cast the spell. The other three were around a table scattered with books and scrolls, watching in anticipation. Joint spells, ones where multiple wizards worked as one to cast, were rare and hard to do, but incredibly powerful. They thought they could do it, but when the spell was released…

 **"My friends died,"** Gabriel said softly, feeling a pain in his chest at the memory of them falling to the ground. **"They all died. That was your spell that killed them?"**

Petal threw back her head and laughed. It was a light, amused laugh that echoed. Gabriel drew himself up short, eyes widening as Petal met his eyes and grinned.

 **"Of course they died,"** Petal chided him. **"It worked. If the spell had failed then they would have survived.** "

The look on Gabriel's face was more than shocked. It was so amusing to see the mute's expression of utter dismay. Em, having settled on a rock, buzzed in amusement. Petal twirled a lock of hair around a finger idly.

 **"Power has a price,"** Petal smiled, genuinely amused by his surprise. **"Wizardkind has tried to forget that. They created wands to use power without paying the price, but that's cheating. It's little wonder their spells are so weak. I don't understand why you've got such a horrified look."**

Em began screeching intolerably as Gabriel approached and held his wand an inch from Petal's forehead. Petal didn't even bat an eye. He opened his mouth to try to say something, but found hecouldn't string the words together.

"Avada Kedavra," Petal supplied for Gabriel when he didn't say anything.

Gabriel flinched, and that made Petal's smile grow.

" **Most Durmstrang students know that one** ," she pointed out. **"Of course, even if you could bring yourself to use it you couldn't kill me. Only part of my soul is in my body."**

Gabriel slowly lowered his wand when Petal's words sank in.

 **"Horcruxes have been around for a long time,"** Petal continued, **"longer then wands have. I made my first Horcrux last year when I turned ten. It's customary among my family. You'd have to destroy my Horcrux before you could hope to kill me** ** _Grindelwald_** **."**

Even if all her Horcruxes were destroyed and her body killed, once a Horcrux was made the soul shard that resided inside could never truly be destroyed. Mutes didn't understand the extent of immortality even a single Horcrux gave someone.

 **"Let me tell you a secret,"** Petal whispered, leaning in closer to him. **"A person can only hold seven Horcruxes. If they have any more than their soul began to splinter and becomes too fragile to remain stable. They have to be put down. Riddle was smart enough to figure out he could only make seven."**

"Riddle," Gabriel repeated.

His breath hissed between his teeth as he realized whose name she was using.

"Tom Riddle," he said, **"Voldemort?"**

 **"You're not scared to say his name,"** Petal nodded appreciatively. **"Did you think it was a coincidence he only made seven? It's almost like someone warned him about the dangers of having more than that."**

Other House members had argued with Petal's father over his decision to warn Riddle about the number of Horcrux's a soul could endure, but he had brushed them aside. Petal's father, the leader of House Arclight, had decided it was worth exposing House secrets. Riddle had done a wonderful job dividing and weakening the wizarding world not once, but twice. He had served his purpose, and the Death Eaters that remained were so fervent to return him to power that her father had had no problem recruiting them. All he had to do was promise them he could bring their master back, regardless of whether or not he could.

"You really are strange for a speaker of the Old Tongue," Petal smiled. "You've got a wand made of rowan, and rowan users are typically least suited to using the original type of magic, yet you managed to successfully cast a spell."

"I like my wand," Gabriel defended, looking away from her and replacing it by his side.

Waving around a wand when he didn't intend to do anything with it was stupid. There wasn't much of anything he could do against Petal short of killing her and she claimed to have a Horcrux. For some reason, he believed her. He believed that she had committed the murder necessary to break off a shard of her soul. Even if he struck out against her body, she wouldn't die and he'd go to Azkaban for nothing.

Without another word, he turned and began walking back the way he had come, leaving Petal to lounge in the sun like a cat. It was just like with his friends. There was nothing he could do.

Petal smiled after him as he left and then laid back down in her original position, Em coming to settle near her. Then she closed her eyes and relaxed, enjoying the warmth provided by the autumn sun.

 **...**

 **You'd think Petal would be scared to say she has a Horcrux aloud, but it's not like anyone can understand Parseltongue. Besides, who would trust the word of a Grindelwald?**


	13. Bad Dreams

The last syllable of the invocation rang in the air as Gabriel Grindelwald and two of his friends finished speaking the spell. The other three of their group looked on with baited breath, eager to see if it would work. The result of the spell was instantaneous. Around the three of them, the air began to shimmer and move on its own, and the ground glowed. Lines, forming a glowing triangle of light on the ground, suddenly linked the three of them. The lines emitted a soft blue color.

"Ah!" One of them gave a surprised cry.

None of them had seen anything like it before. Iris Lyng, one of the three casting, looked up at Gabriel with a bright smile. Gabriel felt the heat coming to his cheeks at her smile. It was with absurd detail that Gabriel remembered the event. She had her platinum blonde hair tied back in a single braid that was wound into a bun at the back of her head, her green eyes luminous. Her brother Kenneth had been the third person casting and watching them was Jonas Ceder, Gulina Elvira Maximovna, and Natasza Skala.

Contrary to popular belief, there were girls at the school as there were witches in the area just as there were wizards. There was no rule stating the men had to get a buzz cut, but Gabriel was one of the few that kept his hair long. Both Jonas and Kenneth had their hair short, and the girls had their tied up out of the way in manners similar to Iris. They had been wearing their uniforms that Sunday, a Sunday that should have been like every other.

It was his fault they were dead, Gabriel knew. Petal had clarified the _reason_ his friends had died, but he knew it was his fault. He was the one that had found the Arclight spell and he was the one that said four extra words his friends had not said. Even as Iris smiled at him that it was working, Gabriel had suddenly felt a great compulsion to say four small words in Parseltongue. His friends knew he was a Parselmouth and he was exuberant from his victory. Not seeing the harm, he had spoken them.

 **"So mote it be."**

Those words had released the spell and properly cast it, not merely charged it to cast as it had been. If he hadn't said those words then the spell would have faded away. As it was, the spell had been launched with him as the caster and the others as the price.

Iris, having heard him speak in Parseltongue, changed her look to confusion. There had been no Parseltongue in the book. Then the spell had changed. The triangle became a circle and expanded to cover the entire room. His friends watching had scrambled to their feet as they suddenly found themselves inside the circle and the other two casters had lowered their wands in an attempt to stop it.

Gabriel was hardly aware of it though, aware of only the surge of energy that was going through his nerves. He had closed his eyes and let the useless wand slip through his fingers, smiling. The power reached a crescendo and he opened his eyes, expecting to see his friends feel what he felt, but they bore no smiles. Iris was still watching him, confusion clouding her normally clear gaze, even as her heartbeat stopped and she fell to the ground with the other five, their lifeforces the catalyst to set the spell in motion. The blue light the magic emitted had turned red.

"No," Gabriel whispered, unable to believe what was happening. **"No!"**

The ring of light that encircled the room brightened from a subtle red to a brilliant white as his order of _no_ destabilized it. With a shriek that knocked out his hearing, the circle exploded into prismatic shards. The ground had rumbled under his feet as the spell blew apart, a miniature earthquake felt across the entire campus. Gabriel had been thrown hard backwards from the force, crashing against one of the walls. He was unconscious before he hit the ground.

Gabriel's eyes snapped open, and he realized he wasn't breathing. Coughing, he drew in a breath and sat up in a bed that was surrounded by green curtains. Sitting on the foot of his bed, whining, was his Crup.

This wasn't Durmstrang. This was Hogwarts. He had been expelled from Durmstrang after the spell had worked. It was strange, but he had always thought he had been expelled because the spell had failed.

Piros walked across the sheets to him and licked his face. Gabriel managed a smile and scratched him behind an ear. His hand was shaking. With a motion to Piros to stay, Gabriel got out of bed and looked around. The other students were still asleep. Not eager to go back to bed, he softly walked into the common room.

Overhead, he swore he could hear the lake's water moving. He had been at Hogwarts for over two weeks now and although he had loved being near the water, a lucky thing since there were several lakes near Durmstrang, he wasn't used to sleeping _under_ a lake. It always felt like the roof was going to cave in. Gabriel wondered if he'd ever get used to it.

At first, he thought the common room was deserted, but he stiffened when he saw there was a student sitting near a window. His first thought was that it was Petal Arclight again and he started to move backwards, but the other Slytherin glanced his way. It wasn't Petal at all, but he wasn't sure who it was.

"Hello," the other student greeted him.

Gabriel tipped his head hello and approached him. It was the Malfoy boy, Scorpius. Like Gabriel, he was still in his pajamas. He wasn't sure what to make of the Malfoy, having heard his father was a Death Eater and then a traitor to Voldemort. It was hard to tell which side he was on, but he seemed nice enough. A bit of a wallflower perhaps, but not cruel or malicious as many Slytherins were.

"Did you have a bad dream?" Scorpius asked.

Gabriel was a little surprised by that, remembering that he was friends with the Arclight girl.

"I had one to," Scorpius admitted. "I like to come and watch the lake. It calms me down."

Gabriel lowered his guard marginally at the first-year's admission and looked out the window he was watching though. Several fish swam by.

"There's a giant squid in the lake," Scorpius continued. "I look every time I come here, but I haven't seen it yet."

He smiled softly.

"I'm going to be here for seven years, so I suspect I'll see it eventually," Scorpius continued, "but maybe not this year."

Although neither said anything, both Gabriel and Scorpius were curious about the other one's nightmare. Both thought that a good way to get the other one to talk about theirs was to say their own, but neither could bring themselves to utter a syllable. Scorpius didn't want to admit his father had used the Killing Curse on his mother in the dream as that would get Draeco in trouble if someone thought he was returning to his Death Eater roots. Likewise, Gabriel couldn't say what had happened at Durmstrang and how he now knew, thanks to Petal, that his friends were dead because of him. He got enough looks from the surname Grindelwald and his expulsion from Durmstrang. Admitting _why_ he had been expelled would only make things worse.

Scorpius sighed and stood. "I'm going to bed. Maybe you'll see the squid."

"You don't have to go because I came," Gabriel said quickly.

"I'm not," Scorpius promised him. "I'm just not scared to go back to sleep anymore. Goodnight."

"Goodnight," Gabriel replied instinctively.

He approached the window and looked out just in time for something very large to swim across it. It took several seconds to pass by, its shadow blocking out the other windows. With a wiggle of its tentacles, the giant squid went past the window, completely unaware of Gabriel.

Gabriel's breath caught at the size of the thing and he turned around to get Scorpius's attention only to see the door to the boy's dorm close. He'd missed it. For some reason he couldn't explain, that made Gabriel feel very sad indeed.

The next morning, Scorpius, unaware of the squid's visit, was eating breakfast with the twins. The Owl Mail had just come by and his Great Horned owl had delivered a message from home. Scorpius gave Ghost, he flew as silently as a ghost after all, some of his toast and his owl left after pulling at his hair. He caught sight of Griffin's Grey Owl leaving, Griffin holding a letter in one hand. Neither Marcelle nor Petal got anything. Erebus had a pair of rats, so a random owl that dropped off an envelope and a copy of the Daily Prophet to him. The twins' owl also had a Daily Prophet, and Luke got it first when he coaxed the owl to come to him in exchange for some bacon.

Jacob huffed as Luke unfolded the newspaper, asking. "What's it say?"

Luke didn't say anything, staring at the headlines. Scorpius leaned over so he could read over his friend's shoulder and gasped when he saw the headline. It became noticeably quieter in the hall as other students with Daily Prophet subscriptions looked over their newspapers. Impatient, Jacob stood and walked over so he could read it.

"Death Eaters Attack?" Jacob read aloud, voice unusually soft.

Petal stopped with a spoonful of oatmeal an inch from her lips and blinked at him. She and Marcelle had the same idea to look at Erebus's paper. Erebus had been opening the envelope but now hurriedly set it aside and whipped open his newspaper. Jen held her copy in front of her so Keira and Gabriel could see it.

The headline was as Jacob had already read, and the moving picture underneath showed the Morsmordre incantation as the symbol of the Death Eater's – a snake coming out of the mouth of a skull – taking form. Petal almost shook her head. Those stupid Death Eaters weren't supposed to make themselves known to the public for another two weeks. Her father was going to be so steamed when he found they had purposely exposed themselves.

"The attack happened late last night shortly after 4am," Luke read aloud. "A group of four wizards calling themselves Death Eaters attacked a train carrying items from the Second Wizarding War that were on their way to a museum. Three muggles and one wizard were killed in the ambush but all the "Death Eaters" escaped. Whether this was a random attack or if something was taken is still unknown."

"It says it's not known if this was an isolated incident," Erebus added.

Curious about something, he passed the newspaper to Marcelle so she and Petal could read it and then opened his mother's envelope. She was in the education branch of the ministry, but he bet she still knew something about what had happened. At least he hoped that was the case.

"Why would they do something so stupid?" Petal asked, voicing her own frustration. "A group of four can't do much, and all they've done is alert the public that they're back. Now everyone's going to be on high alert so they've given up the element of surprise and accomplished nothing. What a bunch of morons."

As if Petal's chiding remark had sparked something, the dining hall that had become dangerously silent erupted into chatter.

"If they took something important from the train then it might not be so stupid," Marcelle pointed out. "Rita doesn't know if they did though."

"Skeeter should wait until she has the information before publishing something," Erebus added idly as he started to read over his mother's letter.

"That's not how she works," another Slytherin chimed in.

Erebus's eyes got huge as he realized he was right. His mother had included extra information Skeeter didn't have. He quickly shoved the paper back inside the envelope and the envelope in his bag, not wanting anyone to see what his mother had included.

McGonagall raised her wand above her head and a firework of green sparkles erupted from the tip, exploding with a bang over the heads of the students. Things once again became remarkably quiet in the dining hall as all eyes turned to the Headmistress.

"You all know what has happened," McGonagall announced to the students. "The train heist is still recent, so do not trust the newspapers to have the correct information. As it stands, it was an isolated incident with a few instigators. It is likely that the wizards that attacked the train are not real Death Eaters and are merely using their symbol and reputation to strike fear into their targets. If you believe they are Death Eaters then let me ask you this: Why would they wait nineteen years after their master's defeat before returning?"

McGonagall's question brought the returning buzz up short and she looked over all the students calmly and surely.

"This attack did not occur anywhere near Hogwarts so classes and the Quidditch match will continue on schedule." McGonagall continued. "Starting next weekend, third-year students and above will be permitted to go to Honeydukes on days when classes are not held. Please continue as you have. You are in no danger from _Death Eaters_ here."

Her tone of voice made it clear she didn't consider the attackers to be real Death Eaters. With that, she sat back down and resumed eating her breakfast. After a few long seconds, the other students returned to eating. An aura of disquiet and unease remained but it seemed the immediate fear had been addressed.

Petal shook her head as the chatter slowly returned. Her father's plan of using the Death Eaters to distract the wizarding world while the Arclights and their allies got into position had its merits, but they were too fanatical. They shouldn't have revealed they still existed for several more weeks. This could complicate things, but Petal was confident her family could make do with the slightly accelerated schedule. Her father would need to rein in the Death Eaters though, or they would continue to mess things up for the Arclights.

"Is everyone going to the game tomorrow?" Was the first non-Death Eater related question posed to the Slytherin table, and it was posed by Jacob.

"The Quidditch game?" Luke asked blankly. "Really?"

"It's better than talking about Death Eaters," Jacob grumbled. "Tomorrow's the first weekend of November, the first Inter-House match. It's Slytherin vs Gryffindor."

Everyone was glaring at him, but Jacob held his head high instead of looking ashamed for his callousness.

"I believe McGonagall when she said it's not Death Eaters," Jacob said with the confidence he always possessed. "They wouldn't have waited so long to return if they were real ones. Even if they were, they're nowhere near Hogwarts and we're just students. We can worry and mope about something we can't change and let it ruin the Quidditch match, or we can accept it. We shouldn't forget that there might be a threat, but given what we know so far, there's no cause to let it consume us. Now, if a Third Wizarding War breaks out I promise I won't say one word about Quidditch, but it hasn't come to that yet."

His last, somewhat ridiculous sentence, made the students roll their eyes. A little bit of the tension surrounding that part of the Slytherin table leeched away. Petal looked over the rim of the newspaper Marcelle was holding at Jacob, not revealing anything in her eyes. Jacob Flint had perfectly read and manipulated the mood of the crowd according to his wishes. It seemed he wasn't just an air-headed Quidditch jockey good for only comic relief.

"I can imagine some families would look forward to the return of the Death Eaters," Aaron Goyle interrupted with a sly look at Scorpius.

Maybe it was because of Jacob's bravery or maybe he was just fed up with the Malfoy name being associated with Voldemort, but Scorpius didn't back down for once. Instead, one of his eyebrows twitched and he looked straight at Goyle. His gaze, Petal noted, was as deadly level and serious as her father's. Earic Selwyn, sitting next to Goyle, actually cringed.

"I can imagine some families are, Goyle," Scorpius countered. "My family is not one of them though. Perhaps you know someone who is."

Goyle turned slightly red at Scorpius's indication that _his_ family might be pleased. "At least my father isn't a Death Eater."

"He was though," Scorpius countered without hesitation. "He tried to use Fiendfyre to kill Harry Potter and his friends. Vincent Crabbe was killed when Goyle lost control of it. The only difference between my father and yours is that mine had a Dark Mark tattooed onto his arm."

The other students fell silent as if someone had used a muting spell and he got a swarm of stares. These stares were different from the irritation Jacob had been silently accosted with, but Scorpius didn't back down this time. He set down his glass of milk beside his breakfast without looking away from Goyle. Over the past two weeks, he had realized there was another difference, and he decided now was a good time to say it.

"There is actually another difference between my father and yours," Scorpius continued slowly. "My father turned against Voldemort _before_ the Battle of Hogwarts. Yours betrayed him only _after_ his death, realizing he should get on the victor's good side if he wanted to stay out of Azkaban. My father might have been a traitor twice, but so was yours. Mine at least was brave enough to leave Voldemort's side while he was still alive. Yours was too cowardly to cross him, and did so only after Potter killed him."

"Liar!" Goyle retorted.

"Am not," Scorpius shot back. "When our parents were put on trial to determine whether or not they should go to Azkaban, my father simply said what he had and had not done. He didn't plead Imperius Curse or make excuses like _some_ did."

That was a rather pointed comment at Goyle and Selwyn as both of their father's had used the Imperius curse as a shield and hidden behind it, especially Selwyn's. Goyle turned bright red and for a moment Scorpius honestly wondered if Goyle would jump over the table at him. Scorpius did not look away though, and Goyle glanced around at the other Slytherins at the table. It was clear from their looks that they wouldn't help him, and he was hardly going to start a fight in front of the Headmistress. As it was, he was the first one to stand and stalk away from the table, muttering what might have been curses under his breath. Selwyn followed with a huff as if Scorpius was no longer worth his time.

"Wow," Luke said after the two had left. "You really shut them up. I was wondering when you'd do that."

"I've been waiting for a good chance," Scorpius said softly, looking down at his food as he returned to his normal manner. "I knew he wouldn't hit me in front of McGonagall."

"Good riddance either way," Jacob agreed, setting down his bowl of cereal.

"Jacob," Luke asked. "What did you intend to do with that?"

"I was going to throw it at Goyle," Jacob said honestly as he picked up a spoonful of it.

"You were _what_?" Luke demanded.

"Throw it at Goyle," Jacob repeated, "if he pushed things. What? I'd get in less trouble for starting a food fight then if I used my wand. Remember how many points we lost on Hallowe'en night?"

"He's got a point," Erebus pointed out.

"I don't think you should encourage them," Marcelle warned Erebus gently.

"Please don't," Scorpius agreed.

"And whose fault was it that we lost points that night?" Luke asked. "Hmm?"

"I was just one of the Slytherins involved," Jacob defended himself, a smile spreading across his lips. "Besides, it was totally worth it seeing those Gryffindors run screaming down the halls because they thought a Hungarian Horntail had gotten inside the castle."

"McGonagall didn't find it very funny," Luke muttered, "neither did Nott and _she's_ the Head of the Slytherin house. Besides, I don't think a bowl of cereal in the face would be a very good deterrent."

"Want to see?" Jacob asked with a grin, picking up his bowl of cereal and raising it as if to throw it at him.

Luke reached for a bowl of jam.

Scorpius ducked, crossing his arms over his head. "Stop! _Not_ while I'm sitting between you two."

Jacob stopped and then, almost grudgingly, put the bowl of cereal down. Luke released the bowl of jelly. When nothing went flying Scorpius shyly raised his head. Once he realized it was he sat up, glaring first at Luke and then at Jacob.

"Maybe I should stop sitting between you two," he admitted. "It's starting to become hazardous to my health."

Marcelle was the first one who made a noise, a half-suppressed snicker at the look on Scorpius's face as he glanced between the twins. Then she started laughing, and the other Slytherins started laughing as well. Jen and Keira giggled with each other and although Gabriel looked down at his food silently, you could see he was smiling gently. Griffin shook his head, placing the letter in his bag to read later. He figured that it could wait given the new development with the Death Eaters.

Scorpius and the twins were facing the wall, so they didn't see the hostile looks the other students shot their direction when they started laughing. The Gryffindors specifically glared at them, still sore from the Hallowe'en prank three days ago. They didn't know about the conversation with Scorpius and the twins, and so thought they were laughing about the Death Eaters.

The Slytherin students largely ignored the looks they got. Petal resumed eating with the other students, idly thinking that Scorpius was quite brave to address Voldemort by name for a mute. Most feared his name, ignoring the fact that fear of the name increased fear of the object. Perhaps these mutes were braver then the Arclights believed.

That might cause trouble for her House along the line, but she doubted it would be worse than the Death Eaters straying from her father's plan. McGonagall and Jacob had just illustrated something of importance though. As far as the mutes believed, the "Death Eaters Return" was of little more importance than a bad dream. Her family still had the element of surprise. Good.


	14. The Power of a Name

It was late Friday afternoon, after lunch and a charms class of practicing the levitation charm. Scorpius was taking advantage of the break he had, heading to the Quidditch field. Luke had told him Jacob was there, watching the Slytherin Quidditch team getting in a little last minute practice before the game tomorrow. Normally, Scorpius would have left him alone and studied with Luke, but he had told Jacob he'd watch them practice.

When he entered the arena, he saw the Slytherin students zipping around on their broomsticks, going through formations to make sure their flying was at its peak. The Gryffindor team would take over the field in an hour, so they made use of their time. Scorpius's breath was taken away at the speed they flew, their green and silver uniform streaming behind them. He liked flying, but not to the extent Jacob did.

It didn't take Scorpius long to find Jacob sitting in the stands. There were other students watching, but not all of them were Slytherins. Some were Gryffindors. Scorpius approached Jacob.

"All right," he told his friend as he sat next to him. "Why did you want me to see practice?"

"Her," Jacob told him, pointing to the only member of the team not currently in practice.

"Zoé?" Scorpius asked. "The captain of the Slytherin team?"

"Isn't she amazing?" Jacob asked with a beaming smile.

Scorpius hung his head, realizing why Jacob had asked him to see practice. "Zoé's a sixth year Jacob. I think she's a little old for you."

Jacob scowled at him briefly and then looked back to the practice. "I know that. She's just such an amazing Quidditch player. The Montrose Magpies already got her earmarked to join them. She might even get into the Irish National team."

"Now you're overexaggerating things," Scorpius teased.

"Am not," Jacob smirked.

Scorpius went back to watching the team with Jacob, Jacob listing off the players' names. He listened to his friend chatter and the feeling of dread he'd been harboring ever since he'd heard Luke say the headlines of the Daily Prophet ebbed away. That coupled with the glow in his chest from when he had stood up to Goyle made him relax and enjoy the day.

He winced suddenly as one of the Chasers slid out of formation, almost knocking a Beater off his broom. Scorpius gasped as the Beater lost his grip on the broomstick and jumped to his feet with Jacob. Zoé swooped in and grabbed the Beater with one hand, catching his wrist. The extra weight threatened to pull her over, but she stayed flying and slowed her acceleration. When she stopped, the Beater she had saved was only a few feet off the ground.

She released his wrist and he landed lightly on the ground, nodding thanks to her. Zoé nodded back, but winced as the Beater's broomstick crashed against a goalpost and fell to the ground. He exchanged a startled look with her and then ran over to check on his broomstick. A stormy look in her silver eyes, Zoé left the Beater and rose into the air to where the Chaser to blame had been watching.

"What a clutz," Jacob grumbled. "I hope the broomstick is alright."

Scorpius nodded agreement. "Who was that anyway?"

"I'm not sure," Jacob admitted. "I think he's one of the backup Chasers."

"Why not one of the usual?"

"Um," Jacob cleared his throat. "The normal Chaser was one of the ones that helped transfigure those sheets we painted into such a realistic looking dragon. Northwind's got him in detention and won't let him participate in the match. Zoé and Professor Nott both talked to her, but nothing happened. McGonagall won't intervene."

"I bet she'd intervene if James Potter was the one in detention," Scorpius agreed. "He's Gryffindor's Seeker."

"Yeah," Jacob nodded.

"You still don't regret faking a dragon attack do you?" Scorpius asked.

"Nope," Jacob smiled.

Scorpius sighed and looked back at the field as Zoé started to give the replacement an earful. After a minute, she dismissed him back into formations and flew down to the ground where the Beater was checking over his broomstick. It seemed to be okay, and he rejoined the other players. Zoé shook her head and looked around the arena. Seeing someone, she flew upward to one of the seats where a student was sitting by himself.

"I-is that Grindelwald?" He asked Jacob.

"Huh?" Jacob glanced at him and then followed where Scorpius was pointing. "Oh yeah, that's him. I wonder why's Zoé's talking to him."

"Why are you over _here_?" Gabriel Grindelwald asked Zoé as she hovered in front of him.

She was sitting sideways on the broom instead of riding it like a horse, her heels kicking against the open air, one hand resting on the shaft of the broomstick and the other hand brushing through her white-dyed bangs.

"You know how to play Quidditch, don't you?" She asked him.

"I do?" Gabriel asked idly.

"You used to be a chaser on a team at Durmstrang," Zoé reminded him. "Keira told me."

Gabriel sighed and looked away, making Zoé smile.

"You should watch what you say around Keira," she warned him. "She knows everything that goes on at this school and the other Slytherins know it. They always go to her for answers."

"A little late to warn me," Gabriel chided her. "What if I was?"

Zoé slid off her broomstick and landed on the railing of the stands, catching her broomstick and holding it behind her back with both her hands. "How good of a player were you?"

It didn't take long for Gabriel to figure out what she meant and he narrowed his eyes at her. "Keira probably also told you that I don't play Quidditch anymore."

"She didn't mention it," Zoé corrected him, "but I figured as much when you didn't approach me asking if you could try out for my team."

"You'd be right," Gabriel nodded agreement, "so you better go back to your team. They look like they could use your help."

Zoé laughed lightly and nodded agreement that they did need help as she took a step forward and dropped onto the floor of the stands. She wasn't leaving.

"I can see it when you watch us practice," Zoé began talking, "you want to be in the air with us as badly as that first-year Jacob. So why don't you play? Don't have a broomstick?"

Gabriel leaned back in his seat, putting his feet up on the seats in front of him and looking away. "I have one."

"Then _why_?" She pressed. "Did it have something to do with you getting expelled?"

Gabriel laughed darkly at that, the image of the Arclight spell he'd done with his friends flashing before him.

"No," Zoé said thoughtfully. "Is it because you want to stay in the shadows, unnoticed by everyone, _Grindelwald_?"

Gabriel stopped laughing and Zoé knew she had him. She sighed and set her broomstick on a bench, taking a seat herself near Gabriel.

"Grindelwald is a very infamous name," she mused aloud. "The less contact you have with other people the less attention they pay you. Is that what you're thinking?"

Gabriel didn't answer, but Zoé knew she was right again.

"You could do that," Zoé admitted, nodding, "and it would probably work. It's a very lonely way to live though."

"What would you know?" Gabriel finally spoke up, asking in a vicious tone.

"Because I tried that myself," she told him. "I'm sixteen years old, and for the first thirteen years of my life I did that exact same thing. It worked, and no one payed any attention to me, but to go through life without friends is very lonely. Three few years ago I decided that I didn't want to live like that for the rest of my life so I signed up for the Quidditch team. Instead of hiding and hoping no one knew my full name I embraced it because it's a part of who I am. People know me, but because I've made a name for myself they know me by me – by Zoé – instead of by my family name."

"Whatever it is it can't be worse than Grindelwald," Gabriel challenged her.

"Wanna bet?" She asked. "My full name is Zoé Bree Rosier."

"Rosier?" Gabriel glanced at her. "Weren't they-"

"Death Eaters," Zoé agreed, "every single one, and they were high-ranking ones besides. My parents and the rest of House Rosier tried to continue the Second Wizarding War. Four years after You-Know-Who's death, my father, Xavier, recreated the Death Eaters with himself as leader. My house, and a few other diehards who refused to accept the war was over, killed over two hundred non-pureblood wizards and their families. The name Rosier isn't as bad as Riddle or Grindelwald mind you, but the scars from what my house did are very recent, and still vividly felt."

"I thought that entire house was wiped out," Gabriel whispered, looking out over the field instead of at her.

"They were," Zoé agreed. "Every adult member of the house was either directly or indirectly involved. They refused to surrender to authorities so they were either killed or taken into custody and sentenced to life in Azkaban. I was only about a year old when that happened, so authorities put me into the foster system. Rosier isn't a good name to have if you want to settle down with a family so I usually moved between orphanages and foster families at least twice a year. No one's ever taken me in willingly."

Gabriel looked down, suddenly feeling guilty. He at least had been raised with his mother.

"When I turned eleven I was enrolled at Hogwarts," Zoé continued. "My name was announced to the school when I was sorted into Slytherin and for the first three years at school I did the exact thing you're trying to do. After the first year, I stopped being such a novelty to the other students and everyone left me alone, completely alone. Part of me was glad everyone stopped comparing me to the rest of my family, but it wasn't a fun way to live."

Gabriel crossed his arms in his lap, still looking down.

"Here's a neat trick though," Zoé added. "When you're a hero of the Quidditch team your housemates don't care what your last name. They're too busy cheering for you because you're winning games."

Gabriel thought about what happened to his friends, to his name, to the Deathly Hallow symbol his grandfather had burned into the wall of Durmstrang – it was still there – and didn't answer. Zoé watched him for a few seconds and then sighed and stood. She picked up her broomstick and climbed back onto the railing to rejoin her team.

"I almost always won the games," Gabriel added, speaking so soft Zoé almost missed it. "I was one of the best in my year."

She smiled to herself and then jumped off the stands with her broomstick in hand. A moment later, Zoé was flying off to rejoin her team as they drilled.

* * *

 _Dear Erebus,_

 _I know I wrote to you only recently, but I felt I had to tell you this information. By now, I assume you've heard of the attack on the train. Skeeter has been trying to trump this up into a story, but for once, I don't believe she is exaggerating. You're a brilliant child so you've likely already denounced the possibility of them being real Death Eaters, but I believe they are exactly what Skeeter claims they are._

 _As you know, You-Know-Who had split his soul into several pieces, creating seven Horcruxes. As long as even one of these items remained whole, He could not be killed. That is why it was only after Potter destroyed the Horcruxes that He was killed._

 _I mention this because on the train was a ring, one of You-Know-Who's Horcruxes that had been previously destroyed. The attackers took it. Some conversation about their choice of theft has been raised. Very little is known about Horcruxes, but one of the theories mentioned is that once a piece of a soul has been placed in a vessel, part of that piece will always remain, even if the vessel is destroyed._

 _If that is true, as I fear it might be, then it is possible the Death Eaters are collecting the Horcruxes in an attempt to put them back together and recreate their Lord's soul. I know how ridiculous this must sound to you, my son, but I feel you should stay on your guard and stay on top of the news. If more of His former Horcruxes begin disappearing I fear we will have our answer._

 _I am likely wrong and nothing will come of this, but keep your mind open. One of your greatest strengths is that you remain open to all possibilities instead of letting yourself become prejudiced. Please do that here. Do not discard the possibility of Him returning from death a third time simply because you do not want it to happen as I notice many others doing._

 _The Ministry is certain this is not some rogue attack like Rikárd of the Light or the Rosier House taking up the mantle of their Lord. Do not let this knowledge consume you, but keep your eyes open and your wits about you my dear son._

 _From Your Mother with Love_

Petal folded Erebus's letter in half and looked away from it, thinking the new situation over. She was sitting on the roof of the school and a breeze tugged at her clothing and the letter she had stolen from Erebus. From what she had seen in the dining hall, he'd only read a little bit and then folded it up and put it away. There was no way he could have read the entire letter during the short time he'd had it open. Most likely it was just the first paragraph.

Given what the rest of the letter said, she was glad she'd managed to get it away from the mute before he'd finished it. Whoever had mentioned this idea to his mother was dead right. The Arclights had gotten the Death Eaters to work for them, causing mayhem and providing her family with a distraction while they moved into position, by telling them this exact thing.

Her father had told them that if they collected all seven of Voldemort's former Horcruxes that he could put them back together and recreate Voldemort, and he made it sound like only _he_ could do it. That ensured their loyalty. It was laughable how gullible the Death Eaters were. They actually thought he could bring Voldemort. Ha. If they managed anything then Voldemort would return incomplete and quite brain dead. Of course, the reality didn't matter as long as the Death Eaters were fooled.

The fact that someone in the Ministry had already guessed what was going on was surprising. She should alert her family. Maybe they could find the person in the Ministry who had guessed correctly and convince them not to voice the possibility again. Since the idea had been aired, all they could do was quiet the source and ignore the rumors as if they were of no importance. The rumors should fade with time.

Petal tapped the letter with the tip of the wand and a small flame ignited. She held the corner of the letter with the dangerous information as the paper burned away. The wind carried away the ash as Erebus's letter burned. Rather than let go of the letter when the fire reached her hand she kept ahold of it and let the flame dance above her palm. The fire did not injure her and she let it vanish after a few seconds.

With the letter's words gone, there was no longer any threat of the students at Hogwarts finding out what was happening with the Death Eaters. Given the next phase of her family's plan, she needed Hogwarts to have its guard lowered.

Petal sighed as she stood and dusted herself off, tucking her wand back inside her sleeve. She walked across the roof back to the open window she had climbed out of. Em was sitting on the windowsill waiting for her and she buzzed a greeting as Petal climbed back inside the castle.

Petal decided, as she brushed her hands together to get rid of any trace of ash, she might as well go to the Quidditch match tomorrow. She had never seen Quidditch before and from the way Jacob told it, it was evidently quite fun.

* * *

 **Names are important, aren't they? They tie you to a family of people as they do to Zoé and Gabriel. A name like Voldemort's can elicit great fear or great reverance depending on which side of the war you were on.**

 **I will leave the Arclight's plan to your imagination. What Petal is saying is that the Death Eaters are on a wild goose chase. There might be a residual bit of a person's soul in a destroyed Horcrux, but bringing the Horcuxes together again won't do much to bring the person back. The Death Eaters have simply been tricked into thinking it will.**

 **What? Did you think I was going to resurrect Voldemort a third time? I mean, I can. It is my story and he's a great villain, but I'm not sure I'd be able to do him right. Besides, isn't that what everyone expects me to do? Where's the fun in doing something if my readers already what's going to happen?**


	15. Confrontations and Lamentations

Petal stood near the lake with the giant squid, watching the water idly. Only a short time had passed since she'd burned Erebus Carrow's letter. Erebus's mother, Flora, had correctly guessed the train heist had been led by real Death Eaters and that they were planning to collect Voldemort's former horcruxes. His mother was too clever by half. Something would likely have to be done about her before long. Should she keep intercepting his letters, or alert her family they should kill his mother?

"Decisions, decisions," Petal whispered to herself.

Em buzzed near her and Petal hummed.

 **"I know Em,"** she addressed the fairy in Parseltongue, the language of magic fairies were capable of understanding. **"Let him approach."**

Petal remained standing as Griffin Lestrange approached, frustration nearly radiating from him. She recalled he had gotten a letter as well. Was it another correspondence with his damn vampire friends? Had she stolen the wrong letter?

"May I help you Lestrange?" Petal asked without turning.

"I'd like you to clarify something for me, Arclight," Griffin told her, his words sounding like an order.

"Arclight," Petal repeated with a smile. "You refuse to call me by my first name. You're not even attempting to play nice. Well, what is it?"

She turned to face him.

"Has your dhampir girlfriend said something of interest in the letter you got?" Petal offered.

"You are keeping tabs on the mail," Griffin had thought as much. "A letter Erebus got earlier vanished. Would you have had anything to do with that?"

"Who knows," Petal shrugged.

Griffin's lips turned into a scowl." Alright then, play it that way. What are you?"

"What does that mean?" Petal asked, wrinkling her nose.

"You're not human," Griffin waved the letter he had gotten. "Regan's father, Sanguini, just got in touch with a friend of his. He said his friend's son caught an Arclight, but the Arclight's blood was so toxic it killed him. Vampires thrive off drinking human blood. So what are you?"

Petal stared at him for several long seconds and then sighed, hanging her head. "Damn vampires. We should have wiped them out. We should never have let Cain walk away."

Griffin stopped. Cain? Cain was the King of the vampires, the original vampire as well as the species' progenitor.

"Sanguini told me Cain had been in contact with the Arclights in the past," Griffin paused, "but he didn't know the details."

"Contact?" Petal snickered. "Yeah, Cain's had contact with my family. Tell me Lestrange, do you know Cain's last name?"

"His what?" Griffin asked blankly, a sudden feeling of dread in his gut.

Petal's lips twitched in amusement. After watching his frown, furrows appearing on his forehead, she added. "I'm not."

"Not what?" Griffin queried.

"Human," Petal's lips curled into a smile.

The feature did not fit with the face of an eleven-year-old, it was filled with too much smug contempt, but Petal's voice had also sounded wrong. When she spoke, she did so in an adult's voice filled with an adult's experience and cynicism, and Griffin was unable to adjust to hearing that voice coming from a child's mouth.

"My family has long sought a way to enhance its power," Petal explained. "A way to cut the shackles of mortality. That's why we created the concept of Horcruxes, why we have not forgotten the Old Tongue as you mutes have. You do not even recall a time before wands existed."

Griffin frowned, eyebrows drawing together. "Wands and magic have always existed together."

"Forgotten," Petal clicked her tongue, "as I said."

Griffin wondered what she meant. What was the Old Tongue, and what was with that gibe about Cain's name?

"My family experimented with the flow of _magic_ and _life_ ," Petal continued with a smile, looking up at the clear blue sky. "They have more in common than one would think."

Griffin looked at her seriously, breath catching on the word "experimented."

"Not all of our experiments worked," Petal admitted readily. "There were failures and aberrations, but we ended up stronger. It changed our blood. We have nearly as much magic in our life as dragons."

"That's not possible," Griffin blurted out. "Humans bodies can't support that much power."

Petal raised an eyebrow and Griffin's voice choked off. He had just made her point for her.

"That explains why you're so strong," Griffin muttered. "What are you, if not human?"

"An Arclight," Petal shrugged. "What else?"

What else indeed, Griffin thought.

"Now as for you," Petal sighed, "you have entirely too much delicate information."

She raised one of her hands and Griffin took a step back as she snapped her fingers. Griffin's eyes glazed over as his legs crumbled and he collapsed to the ground, soundly unconscious. When he awoke, he would have no recollection of the conversation.

"No Em," Petal sighed as her fairy buzzed in surprise, "I'm not going to kill him. That would put Hogwarts on alert. We need their guard down."

Em buzzed thoughtfully and Petal continued, this time in the first language she'd learned.

 **"These common wizards think they are masters of the world, but they have no idea how untrue that is. My family has forgotten more about magic then the mutes will ever know, and we have forgotten very little. We have let them do what they want all these millenniums, letting them wear themselves down and grow comfortable in their stations. Magic keeps evolving, but humans have a habit of focusing on the new improvements and forgetting the old ways. Only the vampires remember what we are, and humans don't usually listen to them."**

Em buzzed and Petal smiled.

 **"You think that's why I should kill Griffin, hmm? He** ** _does_** **listen to the vampires. Perhaps later, after we show these wizards who the** ** _true_** **superpower is. I'm going to be busy helping Hogwarts fall and as I said, we don't want Hogwarts to think anything is wrong."**

Her family was hitting all of the mute's wizarding schools simultaneously, and she couldn't let that be ruined for the sake of killing one mute. The elimination of the wizard's children would discourage the adult population, and with their wizards in training gone, there would be no reinforcements for the adults anytime soon. It would be a short war and afterwards her family, the most powerful magic-using clan in existence, would be where it belonged – at the top.

* * *

"No, no, no!" Zoé Rosier shouted, waving her hand, "stop!"

Her Slytherin Quidditch team came into a half-circle around her and Zoé shook her head. The replacement catcher had swung way out of formation. Keon Wembley was the younger brother of Dante Wembley, her usual Catcher who was banned from participating because of the faux dragon. Keon was a second-year who loved Quidditch, and she had included his as secondary backup as a favor to Dante, who was a fellow sixth year and very hot, not because he was any good. Both Dante and her primary backup Catcher were grounded, so she was stuck with Keon.

Keon was nice enough, but she feared his skill simply wasn't up to Quidditch level. If he was on the team, they probably wouldn't win. Who could take his place, and how could she tell Keon he wouldn't be on the team? He'd be crushed and Dante would be furious, which would probably eliminate any chance of making him her boyfriend.

"That's enough," Zoé decided, "we're done for today. Get some rest for the match tomorrow."

She glanced to one side at the Gryffindor team, which were watching. They'd seen Keno's sloppiness and she didn't doubt they'd target him once the match began, seeing him as the obvious weak link. Keno would have to be replaced after all, but who could take his place as catcher? No names came to mind.

Her people landed and walked into the dressing room to change from their Quidditch uniforms into their school uniforms. Keno hung his head. Once their broomsticks were secure, they walked outside. Zoé noticed the Malfoy boy was leaving the stadium, but Jacob Flint stayed behind to watch the Gryffindors practice. Zoé knew she should stay and watch the Gryffindors, but she had seen them practice yesterday and doubted they could have improved much overnight. She had to deal with Keno.

She looked up as she heard steps and saw it was Gabriel. Grindelwald paused by the staircase and watched as the Slytherin Quidditch team left. Zoé walked over to him, guessing he had something to say.

"You seem to be having a bit of trouble," Gabriel pointed out.

"That's one way to put it," Zoé sighed. "Keno and Dante are not going to be happy with me."

"Dante?" Gabriel asked curiously.

"A fellow sixth-year," Zoé explained, "Keno's older brother."

Gabriel nodded. "Well, I don't know about him, but I think Keno will understand. Did you see his expression when he messed up the formation?"

"Frustrated," Zoé agreed.

"Depending on how selfish he is, he might not mind being taken off the team," Gabriel shrugged. "If he stays on it he might cause it to lose."

"He'll mind," Zoé sighed. "He's going to miss his chance to be on the team."

Gabriel shook his head. Were all Slytherins so selfish? Did they have no honor? He sighed when he realized they probably didn't.

"You're still not willing to take Keno's place?" Zoé offered.

Gabriel hesitated, remembering his earlier conversation with her.

"How do you know I'm any good?" He countered. "I may be a fan of Quidditch but that doesn't mean I'm any good on a broomstick. I could be just as bad as Keno. All you have is Keira's gossip and my personal opinion of how good I am."

"If you weren't any good, Viktor Krum wouldn't have offered to sponsor you as a member of Bulgarian Quidditch team." Zoé pointed out.

Gabriel stiffened. _How_ did she know about that?

"Keira has family among the staff at Durmstrang," Zoé explained with a smile. "I had a hunch and asked her to confirm it."

Gabriel clapped a hand over his face. "Shouldn't you be embarrassed, asking a third-year for help?"

"Waste not, want not," Zoé shrugged, "and you're dodging the question. Krum is one of the best Quidditch players. I trust his judgement more than Keon's skill."

Gabriel lowered his hand, looking away.

"I don't know the details of what got you expelled," Zoé admitted, "but how long do you intend to nurse your regret over what happened and hide?"

 _"I didn't even know Parseltongue had a written form," Kenneth Lyng said as he looked at the book Gabriel was reading with a frown. "Can you really read that?"_

 _"Yes," Gabriel replied without looking up. "It looks like Hungarian to me. What does it look like to you?"_

 _"Gibberish," Kenneth shrugged. "It looks like a bunch of slashes and dots… I think. It's blurred to."_

 _"Weird," Gabriel muttered._

 _"No," Iris spoke up from the sidelines. "Ken's just weird."_

 _Kenneth glared at his little sister and Gabriel smiled. Natasza Skala, the potion master in their group of friends, snickered as she kept laying out herbs._

 _Jonas Ceder and Gulina Elvira Maximovna weren't present. Elvira was still in class and Jonas was in detention for showing an attitude to one of the teachers. Once the two of them finally made it to their secret lab all six would be present and they'd try the spell Gabriel had translated from the book written in Parseltongue._

 _"We're just lucky we have Gabriel," Natasza pointed out. "None of us can read Parseltongue."_

 _"Which raises the question of whether or not we should be casting it," Gabriel interrupted her. "Parseltongue is traditionally used by Dark Wizards and whoever wrote this spell in Elvira's textbook didn't want just anyone to be able to read it. If this was written by a Dark Wizard, it might be forbidden. Besides, I've never heard of needing a ritual to cast a spell before and this one needs it."_

 _"That's one of the reasons we_ have _to cast it," Kenneth smiled. "How many other corporation spells have you ever seen? It's so cool."_

 _Gabriel smiled at his friend's statement, shaking his head. Kenneth would never change. Even attending Durmstrang couldn't make him act serious._

 _"Besides," Kenneth dismissed, "it's not like the effects are bad. You said yourself it's an enhancement spell."_

 _"Ah," Gabriel agreed. "It says it will enhance the magic aptitude of the caster."_

 _"Caster," Iris murmured, "I never noticed that before but you, brother, and I will be working together to cast the spell. Shouldn't it say casters?"_

 _"That's how I read it," Gabriel shrugged, "but I don't think that's what I'm reading. The translation is kind of strange."_

 _"As long as you're sure you translated the ritual correctly," Natasza grumbled._

 _"I did," Gabriel promised._

 _The door pushed open as Gabriel uttered the last syllable, revealing Elvira and Jonas. Jonas dragged his feet as he entered behind Elvira, closing the door behind him._

 _"Did you get done scrubbing the floor?" Kenneth goaded Jonas._

 _"Shut up," Jonas grumbled. "If we weren't about to do Gabriel's ritual I'd totally hex you."_

 _"You would," Elvira sighed, glancing at Iris and Natasza._

 _The girls smiled at each other, which made the three boys look uncomfortable._

 _"Why do you still have your saber?" Gabriel asked, noticing the sheathed blade on the left side of Elvira's belt._

 _"Habit," Elvira shrugged._

 _The class that had kept Elvira was fencing. All Durmstrang students were taught melee in addition to magical combat, both unarmed and with staffs. The top 5% of combat classes were given extra lessons with a saber and Elvira was the top student of Durmstrang._

 _"You really want that enchanted sword, don't you?" Iris smiled._

 _Elvira smiled silent agreement._

 _The enchanted sword Iris spoke of was a saber with a dragon's heartstring in the hilt. This brand-new design allowed the sword to double as a wand, meaning spells could be cast with the sword. The seventh year who graduated top of their melee combat class would be given it. Gabriel and most of his friends were third-year students, excepting Iris's older brother, who was a fourth year. Elvira was a seventh year and she wanted that sword._

 _After learning Gabriel was a Parselmouth, she'd introduced herself to him and his friends and shown them the hidden room they were currently in exchange for him translating the scribbling in the back of her textbook – the Parseltongue spell. Gabriel had thought she would look down on them because of the age difference but she hadn't. She understood the vast difference in their skill was due to experience and not an indication of competence; she had more experience so she was naturally more skilled than them._

 _"Are we ready?" Elvira asked, glancing around the room._

 _"We'll be able to cast it within the hour," Gabriel promised her._

 _"Good," Elvira smiled, "Once this spell increases my aptitude I'll have no trouble claiming that sword."_

 _"I can't wait until we're seventh years," Kenneth grinned. "This might be the first year they give a charmed sword, but Headmaster Asker said they're offering one every year from now on for the best non-magic combatant."_

 _"The concept of using a sword to fight magic is cool," Iris agreed with her brother. "Not only can you still cast long-range spells you can cut your opponents to ribbons. It's amazing how helpless magicians are without their wands, or if you get in too close to them. I can't believe this is the first time someone's thought of charming a sword."_

 _"Magic keeps evolving," Kenneth grinned back, he and his sister for once on the same wave length._

 _"Are you sure you want me and the Lyng siblings to cast the spell the first time?" Gabriel asked, not saying anything on the point of swords. He knew he would try for it as well, but today their focus was the ritual._

 _"You have to be one of the casters since you're the only one who can read the incantation," Elvira shrugged, "and Iris and Kenneth are your eldest friends. You three stand the best chance of managing the corporation. If you can confirm the spell's validity I'll know it's worth the effort to participate in the next casting."_

 _"You are just using us," Gabriel smiled._

 _"Of course," Elvira returned the smile, "but you get the aptitude increase as well so you shouldn't mind."_

 _Gabriel shook his head. He supposed he didn't really mind. This was an interesting experiment and as she had said, it would help all of them._

"Shut up," Gabriel snarled at Zoé, the sudden fury in his tone making her step back. "You have no right to talk about that pureblood."

He had no idea at the time that he'd translated the inscription right. It had read "caster," not "casters."

Gabriel turned and stalked away, leaving Zoé standing there. She sighed after he left earshot.

"Great job, Zoé," Zoé muttered to herself. "Very well done."

* * *

 **The first part was the confrontation and the second part the lamentations, as I'm sure you guessed. How much of Petal's explanation did you see coming? I hope the Slytherins will do alright in the Quidditch match coming up in the next chapter.**


End file.
